


SkyFire 1: The First 5 Years

by An_Abundance_of_Soph



Series: SkyFire [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Artist!OC, Coming of Age, Dad!Tony, Domestic Fluff, F/M, M/M, Major Character Injury, School Shootings, Singer!OC, Slice of Life, boyfriend harry styles, stepdad!steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:15:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 55,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24624571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/An_Abundance_of_Soph/pseuds/An_Abundance_of_Soph
Summary: Aurora Louise Bennett grew up in south London with her single mother. Finally meeting her father, Tony Stark, means moving to New York and starting a whole new life with new friends, a new family and new opportunities.A/N: Canon who? Let’s say that Iron Man 1 & 2 happened pretty much the same except Pepper is nothing more than a friend, Fury was ok with Tony joining the Avengers Initiative and Cap woke up in 2010 instead of 2011. I've tried to use Harry's real timeline but basically ignored all mcu cannon post-captain america: winter soldier because as far as I'm concerned if Stony was real none of that shit would have happened. Also I’m gonna be dropping quite a few songs into different years so just go with it and don’t think about it too muchCW: This story starts with the death of a parent and at a later point one of our characters will be involved in a mass shooting. I will definitely mark those chapters so that you can prepare for them or skip as needed, but I just wanted to make that warning clear in case you want to skip this fic altogether.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, Stony
Series: SkyFire [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1883380
Kudos: 21





	1. Christmas Eve 2010

Aurora chuckled to her self as she heard her mother’s energetic footsteps running up the stairs and took one last look at her laptop screen before turning towards the front door to watch the older woman enter with a wide grin as she sang loudly and out of key, “I’m dreaming of a waffle-y Christmas”. Aurora burst out laughing as her mother proceeded to dance across their tiny living room, tugging her daughter out of her seat and the two danced as they both repeatedly sang the single line of the goofy tune. After a few moments, the teenager pulled away, gasping for breath as she continued to laugh, tucking a lock of her jet black hair behind her ear.

“Ready to head out kiddo?” Louise asked her daughter once their giggles had died out.

“I’m just waiting for my video to finish processing and then I’ll be ready to go,” Aurora promised, turning back to her laptop to ensure her video was still correctly uploading to YouTube. After a few minutes, the video completed its processing and Aurora quickly tweeted out to her few hundred followers to let them know that it was now live and wished them all a Merry Christmas before throwing a coat over her obnoxious Christmas sweater and following her mum out their front door.

They both walked arm in arm down the stairs, emerging into the bar below their apartment where only a few of the regular patrons were occupying the bar stools. “You ladies off for your Christmas Waffles?” The older women behind the bar asked the pair as they headed for the door.

“Absolutely!” Aurora yelled back enthusiastically. “Want us to bring you back anything Helen?”

“No thank you, dear,” Helen replied with a warm smile, “you two go have fun.”

“We will!” the two girls yelled in unison. “Merry Christmas everyone.”

A chorus of Christmas greetings rose up from the patrons perched at the bar as Aurora and her mother headed out into the cold winter night, wrapping scarves around themselves and tugging woollen hats down over their ears, walking through the Wimbledon streets towards their favourite dessert bar for their annual Christmas eve waffle tradition. Despite the freezing weather, there were plenty of people out and about, finishing off the last of their shopping or heading towards the tube to go home to their families. They walked slowly, admiring the Christmas lights and decorations hung in shop windows and strung about the lampposts that lined the busy street. They finally reached the warmth of the dessert bar, quickly removing their coats, scarves and hats as they slid into their regular booth, waving at the staff behind the counter and sharing cheery holiday greetings. After ordering more food then either would ever be able to finish, Louise launched into an animated story of something funny that had happened to her during her shift earlier in the afternoon. She was a bartender and waitress in the pub below their apartment and she knew that her daughter loved hearing all of the crazy stories she had about the things that always seemed to happen inside their little pub. The regulars were like Aurora’s crazy aunts and uncles given that she had spent her entire life living in the apartment upstairs. Louise had been 19, single and 4 months pregnant when she had walked into the Golden Stag asking for work. Helen and Greg, the couple who owned the Stag had taken pity on the young women and not only had they immediately put her to work but they had also quickly turned the unused rooms upstairs into a cosy little apartment for the soon-to-be new mother. They had lived there ever since, and Aurora had loved every moment of it. Her mother was one of her best friends, while Helen and Greg had very quickly taken on the role of doting grandparents for the young girl. Now, only 2 weeks before her 16th birthday, Rori smiled brightly as her mother continued to talk even though her mouth was full of waffles and Rori could barely understand half of her muffled story. When they had both eaten their fill, they leaned back in their seats, hands resting against their overstuffed stomachs, matching grins gracing both of their faces. To the other customers in the nearby booths, they must have looked like two friends hanging out together on Christmas eve, as despite the 19 year age difference between them, Louise still retained her youthful good looks and with her long blonde hair and wrinkle free face, she did not look old enough to be the mother of the young black haired girl sitting across from her. The only physical characteristic that hinted at the fact that they were related was their identical pairs of piercing blue eyes.

Rori pulled her phone out of her pocket, quickly looking at the screen as notifications piled up. She switched it to silent and placed it face down on the table, turning her attention back to her mother. Louise chuckled as her daughters’ eyes continued to glance towards her phone every couple of minutes. “Just check it,” she ordered with a laugh, “I know you’re dying to see.” Aurora barely paused before snatching her phone back into her hand and a look of pride and excitement lit up her face as she read the comments on her latest video and the reactions on twitter. “What’s the verdict?”

“They love it!” the 15 year old cheered.

“What was this week’s video again?” Louise asked, never able to keep up with which project her talented young daughter was working on at any given moment.

“I did an oil on canvas painting of snow on Big Ben with a cover of Do They Know It’s Christmas? in the background,” Aurora replied, still scrolling through the comments on the video. “I’m pretty happy with it but I think I’m going to have to start busking again to try and get some money for a new microphone, I really need the upgrade if I’m going to keep recording the piano in the bar.”

They sat for a little while longer before ordering two large hot chocolates to go, and shimmying back into their coats, scarves and hats before venturing back out into the cold night air, arm in arm. The streets were quitter now that it was closer to 10pm, there were only a few other people on the footpaths and very few cars driving by. The ground was damp due the rain that had fallen while they were thankfully inside and Rori laughed as Louise slipped in a puddle, barely managing to avoid falling and dragging her daughter with her. They were both still giggling as the pedestrian light turned green and they began to cross the street, the warm glow of Golden Stag beckoning them from a block away.

It all happened very fast. One moment the two women were giggling and slipping on the wet road, the next the screech of tires had them both turning towards the fast approaching headlights careening towards them. Aurora didn’t have the chance to react before her mother pushed her slightly and then all of a sudden, she felt herself bouncing up and over the hood of the car, the sound of a scream ripping through the air, accompanied by breaking glass and crunching metal.


	2. The Late Show with David Letterman: August 2013

Rori walked onto the set, shaking hands with the crew members before approaching the two seats set up in the middle of the room under the spotlights. David Letterman stepped forward once she reached the seats, offering his hand to her and a warm smile.

“Nervous?” he asked as they both sat down facing each other. Aurora gave a quick nod and a small smile in response, tucking a lose strand of hair behind her ear. “Don’t be,” Letterman added, “we’ll only talk about what you’re comfortable with and if you don’t want to answer any of my questions just say so and we’ll skip to the next one. This isn’t live so we can just take our time.”

Aurora took a shaky breath to calm her nerves, smiling more genuinely in response to his assurances. “Thank you,” she replied. “This is all just really strange to me still. Dad’s made a lot of effort to try to keep me out of the spotlight since people found out who I am last summer.”

“And unfortunately, that’s made people even more curious about you,” the older man said sympathetically.

“That’s why I knew I had to do an interview,” she explained. “If I keep hiding, then people will just prod and poke until they find out what they want to know. At least this way I can be in control of how the story gets told.”

“A very cleaver way of looking at it,” Letterman replied. “Thank you for asking me to be the one to help you do that.”

“Of course. Dad’s always said you were his favourite interviewer so when I had to decide, you seemed like the best option.”

“That’s very kind of you, and him. Are you ready to start?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Rori replied. There was a brief pause while the crew finished their final checks on the camera’s and other equipment before signalling for Letterman to begin his introduction.

“Here at the Late Show we are no stranger to billionaire Tony Stark, who has appeared on the show countless times in our 20 years on the air. In recent years we have come to know him as Iron Man and last year, in the wake of the tragic Battle of New York, he shocked fans when the tabloids broke the story that he had a 17 year old daughter. Since then the Stark family have remained tight lipped about the mysterious young woman, but tonight I am joined by Miss Aurora Stark in her first public interview. Aurora thank you for joining me this evening.”

“Thank you for having me, David,” Aurora replied.

“Now Aurora,” David continued, “There’s not much we know about you so why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself? How is that the world was unaware of you for 17 years?”

“I grew up in south London and the reason the world didn’t know about me is because for most of my life I’ve been no one,” Rori began, chuckling nervously before continuing. “I lived with my mum until I was 15 and I didn’t know that Tony Stark was my dad and he didn’t know I existed until I was 16 and I moved to New York.”

“I’m guessing the fame and fortune of being a Stark has taken some adjusting too…?”

“More than you can possibly imagine. I grew up really poor, so this is still very overwhelming. My mum was 19 when she fell pregnant with me and her parents kicked her out of home when she told them. She was living in her car and desperately trying to convince anyone to give her a job and she got really lucky that she met the right people when she needed them most.” She paused in her story, but after a quick nod of assurance from Letterman she continued the tale. “She walked into a bar in Wimbledon called the Golden Stag, explained her situation and asked if they had any waitressing or kitchen jobs going and the owners Helen and Greg pretty much adopted her straight away. Within a couple of days, not only did they give her a job, but they converted the office space above the bar into a tiny little one bedroom apartment and let her live there rent free. I honestly don’t know whether we would have survived without them over the years. They became the only family that we had, and I grew up thinking of them as my grandparents.”

“They sound like wonderful people,” Letterman added.

“They’re the best,” Rori grinned, finally shaking off her nerves as she talked about her family. “They were always spoiling me. When I was 6, they brought me my first art set for Christmas and always proudly hung my paintings and sketches in the bar and then when I was 7, I came home from school raving about how I’d got to play on the piano in music class. My music teacher had been talking about how the school would be running a private lesson program and I begged my mum to let me take lessons. I was pretty obnoxious about it now that I look back on it, but of course my mum said we couldn’t afford it and she apologized to me over and over again, but the next day not only had Helen paid for my lessons but one of the regulars at the bar that had heard my pleading brought in an old second hand piano that he said was taking up space in his house. I was allowed to play for an hour every day after school before the crowds started to roll in for happy hour and I could play for as long as I wanted in the mornings on the weekend before the lunch rush.”

“They were the first to encourage your art?”

“Absolutely. Between them and my mum I was always encouraged to explore art. I became obsessed with the piano. By the time I was 11 I’d gotten good enough that I was allowed to play during happy hour and every Sunday the regular patrons would make their song requests and I would spend all week learning them and then play them on Thursday and Friday evenings. It was around then that I started singing and I guess I never really stopped after that.”

“So, it sounds like you had a quite a happy childhood despite not having much to your name,” Letterman said, steering the conversation slowly around to the topic Rori knew she needed to address.

“I did,” she agreed sadly. “My mum was my best friend and she made sure that I always felt loved and safe. Even though we had very little, she taught me that it was so important to be grateful for what we did have and value the people in our lives more than material possessions.”

“Do you feel comfortable talking about what happened to her?” David asked gently. “How is it that you finally met your father and moved here to New York?”

“It was Christmas Eve 2010,” Aurora explained. “Every year we would go get waffles after her shift. It was one of my favourite things, and we’d walk home, full to bursting, looking at all the Christmas lights and singing carols the whole way back to the pub, but that year when we were almost home…” Her voice faded out, her eyes starting to gloss over with tears as her memories pulled her back to that night. “There was a drunk driver,” she continued, before David could ask if she needed a break. “He drove straight through the red light while we were crossing the street. It happened so fast. One minute we were laughing and then the next thing I knew I was flying up over the hood of the car and there was breaking glass and my mother screamed out my name. By the time I woke up in the hospital the next day she was already gone, and Child Protective Services was there.”

“And you were placed into foster care after you left the hospital?” David asked.

“I was,” Rori answered. “Helen and Greg wanted to take me in, but CPS said they couldn’t because a bar was no place for a teenager. We were all so angry over that. I’d spent my entire life living in that bar and now more than ever I needed to stay with the only people I had left but it wasn’t my decision, so I spent the next few months getting bounced from one foster family to the next. Some were good, some… weren’t so good. They did make sure I stayed in the Wimbledon area, so I got to stay at the same school, which I’m grateful for. I’m not sure I would have made it without my friends. My mum and my best friend Ella’s mum had been good friends, so she stepped in a lot and made sure I was doing ok. Depending on which family I was living with I was sometimes allowed to go to the pub after school to see Helen and Greg and play my piano. I know it could have been so much worse if I didn’t have people looking out for me, but it was still such an awful time of my life. I was grieving my mum and trying to figure out what I was going to do with myself now that I was alone. I turned 16 a little over a week after the accident and within about a month of living in foster care, I filed for emancipation and I had planned on moving back into the apartment above the pub, but the judge denied my application given that my father was listed on my birth certificate but had not officially relinquished his parental rights. So, I decided to find him and make him sign the papers so that I could move back home and get just a little part of my life back.”

“You knew then that Tony Stark was your father?”

“I knew that a man named Anthony Stark was my father,” Aurora corrected, “but I never thought that it was that Anthony Stark. My mother had never liked to talk about him so all I had to go on was that she’d been waitressing at a fancy party in the city and that she’d ended up going back to a hotel with one of the guests. Combining that with the name, I started researching. I eliminated those that would have been too young or too old or couldn’t have been in London in 1994 and then I just started emailing them or calling or visiting them. Eventually I started running out of possible Anthony Starks and I thought I might as well cross the famous one off the list. I emailed his assistant and explained who I was and why I was contacting her. I even attached a copy of the forms for him to relinquish his rights because I didn’t want him to think I was trying to get his money or something. Weeks went by and I never heard anything so I figured I never would and by then it was May and I had exams at school, so I got distracted and I just focused on that. A few weeks into my summer break I got a reply. His assistant, Ms Potts, confirmed that Tony had been in London around that time and had attended multiple parties that could have fit the description and she asked me if I would be willing to take a DNA test to confirm my story.”

“And the test came back confirming you are his daughter,” David concluded after Rori paused in her story.

She nodded in reply, a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth as she remembered. “He was shocked by the news, as I’m sure anyone would be to learn that they had a 16 year old kid. He got straight on a plane and flew to London to meet me. I think my foster dad nearly had a stroke when he answered the door. We had dinner together and he asked me all about my life and I told him about my mum and living at the pub and the accident. It was awkward at first but within a few hours we’d just hit it off and then when I asked him about signing the forms he refused. He invited me to come live with him in New York instead, at least until I was 18 and then if I didn’t want to stay, he said I could move wherever I wanted. I agreed and we flew out a week later after the courts signed off on it.”

“And this was two years ago?” Letterman questioned.

“Yeah,” Rori confirmed, “in the summer before my Junior year of high school.”


	3. FLASHBACK - Steve: July 2011

Steve Rogers stood in the penthouse of Stark Tower, looking out the window across central park. Tony was sitting nearby on the sofa, tapping away on his tablet and Steve took a moment to reminisce. It had been a little over a year since he had been pulled from the ice and woke to the 21st century. To say that it was a difficult adjustment period would have been a gross understatement. In the first week of waking up he was introduced to Director Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D, and was quickly brought up to speed on the big milestone moments he had missed in the last 70 years, or at least the moments that Fury decided were most crucial for him to be caught up on. After a week he had travelled to London to see Peggy Carter and had been both overjoyed and devastated to see the only surviving person from his old life. Upon returning to New York he had been informed that he would be meeting with another member of what Fury was calling the Avenger Initiative and he was left frozen in shock when the man had entered the room. The newcomer had looked so strongly like his old comrade Howard Stark and if Steve had not just returned from seeing an elderly Peggy he may have begun to fear, once again, that this was all an elaborate hydra plot and he was not in fact in the future. After only a few minutes talking to Tony, it was clear that this man was nothing like his father. He was funny, a dry, scathing humour but funny none the less and he wasn’t trying to ease Steve into the conversation like everyone else had since he’d awoken. Tony didn’t wait for anyone to catch up to his train of thought and Steve respected the older man’s confidence. After that first day the pair had hit it off, becoming fast friends and once Tony had learnt that Steve was living at S.H.I.E.L.D in a tiny bunk room, he had immediately informed Steve that he was moving in with Tony. Steve appreciated Tony’s friendship more than words could explain and the two men found living together in Stark Tower as easy as breathing. While Steve appreciated Tony (and JARVIS)’s help in learning about the modern day, Tony enjoyed having someone around to share meals with (and cook said meals), although he was too proud to admit to Steve in those early days just how much he had craved the easy companionship. Over the course of the year that Steve had spent living with Tony, their friendship had grown until eventually it had morphed and changed into something more. At first Steve had been scared of the change, given the era in which he had grown up, but as with everything else scary and new in 2010, Tony had been there to help Steve understand and accept that everything was different now. It had in no way been a simple or easy transition, but Steve could honestly say that he had never been happier standing in the penthouse at the top of Stark Tower, watching the man he loved working away as the sun began to set over the city laid out below them.

Steve was pulled out of his memories as JARVIS announced that Pepper Potts was on her way up in the elevator to speak with Tony. He liked the feisty blonde and enjoyed the fact that she was one of the only people he had met thus far who seemed to be able to manage Tony. Unlike most people around them, she was not cowed by his arrogance but instead matched his stubbornness with her own. When Pepper stepped out of the elevator, Steve instantly stiffened defensively as he read the nervous expression on her face and the tense way her shoulders bunched while she walked over to where Tony had still yet to look up from his tablet.

“Tony?” Pepper asked softly as she took a seat beside him on the sofa. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Steve walked over to the sofa, standing behind Tony and placing his hands on the brunette’s shoulders. Tony put down his tablet, placing one hand over Steve’s on his shoulder without really thinking about and turned to Pepper with a smirk.

“You haven’t ruined my company, have you?” He quipped.

“No Tony, I haven’t,” Pepper replied, not matching the humour in her friend’s voice.

Tony’s smirk instantly disappeared in response to Peppers tone. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I’m not sure how to say this,” she said, eyes glancing up to meet Steve’s quickly before looking back down to where her hands were clasped in her lap.

“Spit it out Pep,” Tony replied, “You’re starting to worry me.”

“I got an email from a young girl in London a few weeks ago who believed that she’s your daughter,” Pepper said in a rush.

“Well it’s not exactly the first time someone has claimed I’m someone’s baby daddy,” Tony joked, trying to lighten the tense mood in the room, intensely aware of Steve’s nervous fingers holder a little tighter to his shoulder.

“I had her take a DNA test, Tony.”

Silence hung in the air, neither man knowing how to respond.

“What’s her name?” Steve finally asked.

“Aurora,” Pepper replied. “Aurora Bennett. She’s 16 and living in foster care after her mother Louise died 6 months ago. She says she doesn’t want anything from you. She doesn’t want money or to meet you or anything, all she asked for was that you sign a few forms to officially relinquish your parental rights so that she can be emancipated and get out of foster care.”

“I want to meet her,” Tony announced. “I need to meet her.”

Pepper was shocked, but Steve was nothing but proud. He was aware of the man that Tony had grown to be in the wake of his parents’ deaths, the version of himself that he let people see, but he was also aware that the arrogant playboy was not the real Tony Stark. The real Tony Stark was fiercely loyal and despite the arc reactor taking up a large portion of his chest, he still had a heart twice the size of anyone else Steve had ever met.

“I’ll get a meeting organized,” Pepper promised. “Do you want to fly to London, or shall I have her flown here?”

“We’ll go to her,” Tony replied, squeezing Steve’s hand in a silent request. Steve squeezed his shoulder in reply, leaning down to place a kiss on Tony’s temple. Of course, he would go with him to meet his daughter.


	4. FLASHBACK - New York: August 2011

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little snapshots looking back on Tony, Steve and Rori adjusting to becoming a family

The first thing that Rori noticed when she entered the penthouse at the beginning of August was the size, the place was gigantic, and she couldn’t help but compare it to the tiny apartment she had shared with her mother. The walk in closets in this place were probably bigger than their entire apartment combined. The second thing she noticed was the view of Central Park through the windows. Having never been to America before, she had only ever seen New York in movies, and she was itching to go out and explore her new home. The third and final thing that she saw, and what stole her attention away from everything else in the room, was the glossy, black grand piano sitting by the wide floor to ceiling windows. Tony noticed her staring at the instrument from where he was standing behind her, and he smiled sadly thinking of how it had gone mostly unplayed for so many years.

“It was your grandmothers,” he said softly. “It only really gets played when there’s a party.”

“Could I?” Rori asked softly, looking back over her shoulder with a shy smile.

“Of course,” Tony replied instantly. Steve stepped up to stand behind Tony, wrapping his arms around the shorter man’s shoulders as the teenager approached the piano, taking a seat on the bench before lifting the fallboard and hovering her fingers over the ivory keys for a moment. Both men watched on in silent awe as Aurora closed her eyes and played. The music filled the large space, breathing life into the room and Steve began to sway to the tune, forcing Tony to move with him. Slowly the song morphed from one to the next as Aurora revelled in the freedom of playing again, and after a few simple pieces she forgot completely about her audience, beginning to sing.

“She’s incredible,” Tony whispered, not wanting to shatter the stillness of the moment but needed to voice his astonishment.

“Just like her dad,” Steve murmured in his ear.

xXx

“Mind if I join?”

Steve looked up from his sketch book to find Aurora standing in the doorway of his art studio, looking shy with her sketch book and pencil case tucked under one arm.

“Make yourself at home,” he replied with a warm smile, moving his feet to make space for her on the sofa next to him. She sat down, looking around the room, taking in the finished art hanging on the walls and some of his unfinished pieces on easels over by the large window.

“You’re really good,” she finally said, shyly looking back at the blond.

“Thanks,” Steve replied with a warm smile, “I wanted to be an artist when I was a kid, before the war.”

“Do you ever wish that’s what you got to do?” Aurora asked.

“No,” Steve replied immediately. “If I hadn’t been so hellbent on joining the army I wouldn’t have been given the serum and I never would have come out of ice or met Tony… or you.”

Aurora looked up at him in shock at his confession. “But you barely know me.”

“True,” Steve agreed. “But what little I’ve learnt about you so far, I’ve liked.”

“Thanks,” Rori whispered. “I like you too.”

“I know this isn’t where either of us expected to be, but I’m glad you’re here,” Steve told her. “I know Tony’s glad you’re here too.”

“Really? He always seems like he’s terrified of talking to me for too long.”

“I think he’s just trying not to overwhelm you… or himself,” Steve replied. “He doesn’t want to come on too strong and have you run away.”

“Oh,” Rori said, surprised by Steve’s admission. “I guess that makes sense.”

The pair lapsed into silence and after a few moments Rori turned her attention to her sketch book. The two sketched side by side for hours until the sun started to set, and the studio started to darken with the lengthening shadows.

xXx

A few days after the day she spent in Steve’s art studio with him, Rori made her way downstairs to Tony’s workshop. She asked JARVIS to announce her presence outside the glass door, watching Tony stare intently at the screen in front of him before he snapped his eyes up to look at her, a smile stretching across his face as he spoke, clearly telling JARVIS to let her in as the door slid open a moment later.

“Hey,” he greeted as she walked towards him.

“Hi,” she replied nervously. While they had gotten along easily when they met in London a few weeks ago, Rori had not been lying when she had told Steve that Tony seemed afraid of talking to her. Now that she knew the reason behind his hesitancy, she was determined to bridge the distance between them. If she was going to live here with him for the next 2 years, then she needed to create a relationship with her father. “What are you working on?”

“A new Iron Man suit,” Tony replied. “Did you need something?”

“No. I just thought it might be nice to get to know each other a bit.”

“Oh,” Tony replied, “Um… yeah, ok. What do you want to know?”

“Everything? Anything? I’m not sure,” Rori laughed awkwardly. “I don’t really know how to have a dad, so I’m not really sure how to do this.”

“Yeah, I don’t really know how to do this either,” Tony admitted.

They started with small talk, Tony showing her some of his designs and telling stories of his past and Rori telling him about her childhood and friends back home.

“I had JARVIS set up some internet search protocols,” Tony told her after a few hours. “Just so that we would know if the paparazzi or anyone work out who you are or something.”

“That makes sense,” Rori replied, “I guess it’s inevitable that it’ll happen at some point, right?”

“Yeah, but we don’t have to worry about that for a while I don’t recon,” Tony said. “I only mention it because when I was doing that it pulled up any mention of you online and I saw your social media accounts.” He paused, not knowing whether he had overstepped and invaded her privacy, but she remained quiet, waiting for him to reach his point. “I found your YouTube channel.”

“What did you think?” she asked, looking at her hands in her lap, nervous to hear his reply.

“You’re really talented,” he said. “Your landscape paintings are beautiful, and I like that you record your own music for the videos. I know Steve’s already told you, but you’re welcome to use his art studio whenever you want. I know he’s looking forward to having someone around the house that can talk art with him.”

“Thank you,” Rori told him. “He said you built the studio for him when he moved in last year.”

“Yeah, I did,” Tony replied. “I wanted him to feel like this was his home as much as it’s mine. Same goes for you.”

“It’s a little overwhelming right now but I think I will after I have a chance to get used to it all.”

“I’m glad,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief at her admission. “So, is art what you want to do with your life?”

“I think so,” Rori answered. “I’m not really sure if I want to be a painter or a musician or what but I’m pretty confident I want to do something in the arts.”

“You know there’s an incredible Arts school only a few blocks from here.”

“LaGuardia?” she asked. “I’ve read about it. It’s unbelievably good but the audition process is brutal apparently.”

“I could make some calls,” Tony offered.

“Really?” Rori gasped. “But the school year starts in like 2 weeks.”

“You’re a Stark now, kid. That name opens up a lot of doors if you want it to.”

She bit at her bottom lip, torn between desperately wanting to attend the school of her dreams but feeling uncomfortable using her newfound privilege to get in when plenty of other kids had worked hard for years to audition for their place.

“Please let me do this for you,” Tony asked as he watched her internal debate play out across her face. She looked up in response to his tone, and her decision was made when she saw the expression on his face. It was clear as day that he wanted to be able to do something to help her adjust to her new life and feel good about leaving behind everything to live in a foreign country with a stranger.

“Ok,” she agreed, unable to stop the excited grin that split across her face.

xXx

It had been 5 weeks since Aurora had moved into Stark Tower and while the three of them had quickly adjusted to living together, today was a disruption to the easy going atmosphere that usually settled over the penthouse.

“I’ve been walking to school on my own for years,” Aurora argued as she stood in front of Steve and Tony in the living room.

“Not in New York, you haven’t!” Tony retorted.

“It’s a 10 minute walk!” Rori countered.

“It’s not safe to walk around Manhattan on your own,” Tony continued. “Not when you’re my kid.”

“But no one knows I’m your kid,” Rori said, “at least not until I step out of a chauffeur driven town car on my first day.”

“Tony,” Steve interjected softly, having stayed out of the argument until that point. “She’s right. It’s only 10 minutes to LaGuardia High and no one knows who she is. She’ll just be one of countless students walking those streets. She’ll be fine.”

“Thank you, Steve!” Aurora replied with a smile. “Now if you don’t mind me, I’m gonna go before I’m late on my first day.”

Without waiting for a reply from her father, she turned on her heels, scooped her bag off the nearby couch and headed for the elevator.

“Not cool, Steve,” Tony said once the elevator doors closed behind her. “Very not cool.”


	5. FLASHBACK - New York: November & December 2011

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> more glimpses of life in the tower and Rori at school

It was late November and Rori was walking down a hallway between classes when she saw a bright green flyer on a noticeboard and stopped.

**NEW BAND SEEKING KEYBOARDIST AND SINGER.**

She pulled out her phone, taking a quick photo to save the contact details and then carried on her way to class. It wasn’t until she got home later that afternoon that she remembered it and pulled her phone out to look at the photo again, debating whether or not to text the number provided. She was sitting on the couch in Tony’s workshop with her homework perched, forgotten on her lap.

“Stop googling the answers.”

Rori’s head shot up as Tony’s voice interrupted her internal debate, catching him smirking at her. “I’m not!” she said defensively.

“Then what are you looking at?”

“I saw this flyer at school,” she began to explain, “there’s a band looking for a singer and a keyboardist and I’m trying to decide if I should text them or not.”

Tony was quiet for a moment as he looked at her. “What’s making you hesitate?”

“I don’t know,” Rori shrugged. “I’m still the new kid and trying to find my feet. I mean it’s hasn’t even been two months and I haven’t really made many friends yet or anything.”

“Joining a band seems like a pretty good way to fit in at a school filled with performers and artists,” Tony pointed out.

Rori chewed on her bottom lip for a moment before quickly unlocking her phone and copying out the phone number at the bottom of the flyer.

**◊Hi, saw your flyer about the band. I play piano and I sing, when can I audition?**

After hitting send, she looked back up at her father. “Well there’s no going back now.”

xXx

Rori loved being in a band and the twin brothers, Madz and Xavier, quickly took a shine to the young brit. They spent most lunches in one of the schools many practice spaces, jamming away or just sitting around getting to know each other. Just like Rori, the boys were Juniors and Rori was in the same English Lit class as Madz. After showing them her YouTube channel shortly after meeting them, they had all decided that they would post their first cover to a new channel and share the video to Rori’s existing fan base to help jumpstart the band. While settling on the first song that they would cover had been an easy decision, coming up with a name for the band had been anything but.

“Rori and the Clark brothers,” Xav suggested.

“No,” Madz and Rori replied in unison.

“Sleeping Beauty,” he tried again. “You know, because her name was Aurora?”

“No,” Rori replied.

“Jar of Flies. 3 Outlaws. Left Turn. Something Strange. Toxic Nebula.” Each suggestion was quickly refuted, and Xav barely paused after each no before firing off his next thought.

“Aurora Borealis?”

“No,” Rori replied again. “Enough. These are all rubbish.”

“What about Sky Fire?” Madz offered, “like a play on Aurora Borealis?”

“Actually, that’s not half bad,” Xav replied and he looked over at Rori to find a smile stretching across her face.

“I like it!” she agreed. “SkyFire.”

xXx

They posted there first cover 3 weeks after forming the band, and with the help of Rori’s twitter account and existing channel **Aurora B Artful** , their first song achieved 12,000 views within the first week.

xXx

A few days after the launch of the band, 2 weeks before Christmas, Rori was at home, lounging on the sofa when it dawned on her that neither Tony nor Steve had made any mention of Christmas over the past few weeks.

“JARVIS?” she called out, “What do Tony and Steve usually do for Christmas? When do they get a tree or decorate or anything?”

“Last year,” the disembodied voice replied, “Sir and Captain Rogers purchased a large pine tree and decorated the apartment at the beginning of December. They hosted Colonel Rhodes, Miss Potts and Mr Hogan for a Christmas Eve dinner and watched _Miracle on 34 th Street_.”

Rori frowned in confusion as she took in the lack of tree or decorations surrounding her and decided to go find Tony to uncover the reason. She found him, unsurprisingly, in his workshop.

“Why don’t we have a Christmas tree or any decorations?” She asked once Tony lowered the volume of his music. “JARVIS said you went all out last year, but if you look around upstairs, you’d have no idea it was December.”

At first Tony didn’t respond and instead he simply watched is daughter, trying to read her expression and gauge what her response would be to his reply. “I didn’t want to go all out,” he explained. “I didn’t know if you’d want to celebrate it to be honest.”

“Oh,” Rori said, falling silent as her eyes grew warm, touched beyond explanation by how much care and sympathy was wrapped up in this simple gesture.

“What would you have done if you were still in London?” Tony asked quietly once it was clear that she was not going to add anything further.

“I probably would have gone to the pub,” Rori replied softly. “None of my foster families really cared whether I was there or not, so if I was still in the system I probably would have had Christmas lunch with Helen and Greg or maybe at my best friend’s house instead. I’m not sure. ”

“Do you want to do Christmas this year?”

“I’m not sure I could handle a big party or anything, but a tree and some decorations would be nice,” she replied.

“Then a tree you shall have,” Tony announced, attempting to lighten the mood. He knew had succeeded when her face lit up with a grin. “Let’s go get Steve and we’ll go pick one out.”


	6. FLASHBACK: Christmas 2011

Aurora kept to herself for most of the day on Christmas Eve and both Tony and Steve gave her space to deal with her mother’s anniversary in whatever way she needed. A large portion of the day was spent in Steve’s art studio and then at the piano playing the same song over and over again, a tune neither men recognised. As the sun began to set, the 16 year old changed into her favourite ugly Christmas sweater and went in search of the two men. She found them in the workshop, Steve sitting on the couch, while Tony flitted from one project to the next, not really able to focus on any of them. They both snapped their heads up upon her entrance.

“Hey,” Tony greeted her softly. “How you doing kid?”

“I was wondering if we could maybe a watch a movie together?”

“Of course,” Steve replied, already standing and crossing the room to her side, with Tony only a step behind him. “Have anything in particular in mind?”

“The Santa Clause?” she offered as they all stepped into the elevator. “It was mum’s favourite.”

“JARVIS?” Tony said, “que up The Santa Clause in the living room please.”

“Right away sir.”

“JARVIS?” Aurora added, “could you order us some waffles too please?”

“I can make them if you want,” Steve offered, earning a soft smile from the teenager.

“That would be really nice,” she replied. “Thanks Steve.”

“Don’t mention it,” Steve replied as they all stepped out of the lift. Steve made a bee line for the kitchen, while Tony and Rori headed to the sofa, piling pillows and blankets together to form a cosy nest for the three of them. The waffles didn’t take too long to prepare and before long Rori was sandwiched between the two men huddled beneath the blankets as the movie began.

“We used to get waffles every Christmas Eve,” Rori explained as they ate. Neither Tony nor Steve replied, but they both moved a little bit closer on either side of her.

By the time the end credits began to roll, Aurora was asleep with her face pressed against Tony’s shoulder, his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders. His shirt was damp from the tears she had silently shed about halfway through the film but now she slept peacefully. Steve gently pulled her up into his arms, carrying her to bed and tucking her in.

xXx

Christmas Day was a much happier affair, with Pepper, Happy and Rhodey joining them for an extravagant Christmas lunch.

“This is fantastic Steve,” Happy announced as they all dug into the food spread out across the table.

“Thank you Happy,” Steve replied, a proud smile lighting up his face. He had spent the last few days pouring over recipes online, putting together what everyone in the room agreed was the perfect meal. Tony and Rori quickly looked away from each other as they both tried not to laugh thinking about how many failed attempts in had taken for Steve to get the homemade bread to rise correctly, or how often he had shooed the two of them from the kitchen when they had attempted to offer their help. “Don’t you two even start,” Steve said, pointing an accusing finger at both of them, only succeeding in sending them into matching fits of giggles, clutching at their chests as they cried with laughter.

Pepper looked across the table to where Rhodey was watching the pair gasp for breath, Rori reaching out to grab onto Tony’s shoulder as if to steady herself. As if sensing Peppers gaze on him, Rhodey looked up and the two shared a soft smile at their friends’ joy. They had both been a part of Tony’s life for such a long time and had seen him at his lowest point, so to see him now, with a family that brought him such joy, was the best Christmas present either of them could have possibly received.

After they had all eaten their fill and were leaning back in their chairs, nursing bulging stomachs and sated grins, Tony turned to his daughter. “Ready for your present?” he asked excitedly.

“We exchanged presents this morning,” Rori replied in confusion. “You gave me a StarkPhone.”

“You didn’t really think that was all you were getting, did you?” Tony scoffed, already standing and pulling Rori to her feet. “Come along everyone, the gift is downstairs.”

They all clambered to their feet and followed the pair into the elevator. The doors closed at the lift descended, the doors reopening on the floor that housed the workshop and Steve’s art studio. Instead of heading straight towards the workshop’s doors, or left towards the studio, Tony led the group towards the right, throwing open a set of double doors with a dramatic flourish. Rori froze as she took in the space, unable to speak in the face of such an overwhelming gift. Tony turned towards her, his face falling as soon as he caught sight of the tears falling down her cheeks. He quickly rushed forward, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly against his cheeks. “Don’t you like it?” he asked, anxiety thickening his voice.

Aurora shook her head against his chest, taking a deep breath to steady herself before answering, her voice muffled as she continued to press her face into his Christmas sweater. “I love it.”

“Then why are you crying love?” he chuckled.

“It’s too much,” Rori explained, finally stepping back from the hug and turning to once again look at the recording studio spread out before her. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Say thank you and accept that Tones will always go over the top for the people he cares about,” Rhodey said.

“Then thank you,” Rori replied softly. “It’s incredible.”

Tony pulled her back into another hug. “Merry Christmas Kid.”

“Merry Christmas Dad,” she murmured in reply, causing both of them to freeze for a moment. Tony recovered first, his face splitting with a gigantic grin and he just hugged her even tighter, chuckling when Steve wrapped his arms around both of them, sandwiching Rori between the two men.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't forget to comment, let me know what you think so far. I've got big plans for the later chapters but these first nine establishing chapters must be written first.


	7. The Letterman Interview: August 2013 (part two)

“Last year, the city was rocked by the Battle of New York, which of course was when we saw the creation of the Avengers. I’m curious as to what that situation was like from the inside.”

“It was horrific,” Rori replied, wringing her hands in her lap as she thought back to the previous summer. “In the days leading up to the battle, both my dad and Steve flew out to try and contain the situation in Germany and of course I stayed behind. That was a big moment for our family really. Up until that point Dad had gone away for business trips and Steve had been running the occasional mission for S.H.I.E.L.D but that was the first time they both left at the same time. I’m not ashamed to admit that I was scared when they left. I’d already been left an orphan once before and it was an absolute miracle that I got a second chance at a family, so I knew if anything happened to them, I wouldn’t get another. It was a tense few days and then the fight came to New York and all hell broke loose. I was at school when the portal opened and the Chitauri army came through. LaGuardia is only a few blocks from the tower, so we were right in the epicentre of the battle just trying to shelter as best we could and praying that we would make it out of there. Early on I saw the Iron Man suit fly past a window, so I knew that Dad was there, which meant Steve was too and that they would do what they could to protect the school. We could hear the explosions and at some point, someone got the news up on the TVs in the cafeteria where I was. The whole world has seen that same footage, the devastation and the casualties and then the Avengers fighting as best they could and then cameras caught sight of the missile.” Rori stopped, her breath shallow and her hands shaking recalling how close she had come to losing another parent. “He called me as he headed for the portal,” her voice was barely above a whisper.

“What did he say to you?” Letterman asked with a gentle voice.

“Goodbye,” Rori choked, tears pooling in her eyes. “He said goodbye and that he loved me and that he was grateful that we’d found each other and then he was through the portal and the connection dropped out. I watched on the TV as the portal closed and even though the line was dead, I kept my phone pressed to my ear.”

“What passed through your thoughts when the portal closed and all the Chitauri were dead?” David asked.

“I was holding my breath,” Rori replied. “We all watched him fall and I just kept waiting for the suit to fire up and for him to fly away but he just kept falling and then the Hulk leapt up and caught him and I don’t even consciously remember standing up or deciding to move but all of a sudden I was running out of the school and a teacher was screaming at me to stay inside but I just knew I needed to get there. I guess it was lucky that he fell near the tower and I was running so fast down the middle of the street, I guess I got to them about 10 minutes after he landed. As soon as I saw that he was alive I just collapsed.”

“I remember watching the news coverage,” Letterman added. “We’d just watched Iron Man’s miraculous survival and then all of a sudden there was this schoolgirl running towards the Avengers and then she was on the ground and Captain America was hugging her and no one knew who you were or what was happening.”

“The rest of that day was such a blur,” she explained. “Manhattan was in pieces and our home was trashed and so many people were dead.”

“What was that summer like for you personally?”

“Chaotic,” she said. “We had to have the tower rebuilt and then everyone wanted to know everything they could about the Avengers and about me. It was all so overwhelming, and that entire summer seemed to last for years but also somehow passed in the blink of an eye at the same time. Before I could really process it all, we’d moved back into the tower with the rest of the Avengers moving in as well and then I was starting my senior year. Dad had designed an entire floor for each member of team and I had entire wing of the penthouse to myself but we all spent so much time together in the main living room that by the time I went back to school we were this crazy family of assassins, scientists and soldiers and it was just such a chaotic but happy place to be. I’m so glad we had that environment otherwise I’m not sure how we would have dealt with the aftermath of that day.”

“When you talk about your dad and that time, you mention Captain Rogers a lot,” Letterman pointed out. “The world was obviously quite shocked at the end of last year when they announced that they were not only in a relationship but were also engaged. What is your relationship with Steve like and how did you adjust to them being together?”

“I love Steve,” Aurora replied simply. “He’s been just as much a father to me as Dad has and I am so lucky to have him in my life. There was never really anything to adjust to in that sense because from the moment I met dad and moved into the tower, Steve was a part of that. After everyone found out about me, I legally changed my name to Stark and we all started talking about announcing that dad and Steve were together because it was only a matter of time before people worked it out, and then one afternoon when Steve and I were both painting in our studio he asked for my blessing to propose.”

“Steve asked for your blessing?” Letterman asked in surprise.

“He did,” Rori laughed. “No matter how hard he tries to adjust to the 21st century he is still very old fashioned in many ways and he felt it was important to make sure that I was on board before he asked, which of course I was.”

“and then they asked for your help to announce their engagement?”

“I painted the proposal,” Rori explained. “Steve down on one knee in the rooftop garden at the top of Avengers Tower, and then I posted the video of painting it which slowly revealed their faces. At the end of the video they both appeared on the screen and announced that they were engaged and very happy together.”

“It was a beautiful video, and a beautiful painting,” Letterman offered.

“Thank you,” she replied.

“And the photos were recently released from the wedding last month…”


	8. FLASHBACK - The Stony Wedding: July 2013

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine Aurora's performance of Can't Help Falling in Love to be Hayley Reinhart's https://youtu.be/VqLU4wPzDVg  
> And the song SkyFire performed for Rori's Maid of Honor speech was I'll Have You by Andie Case, who is my inspiration for Rori's music career https://youtu.be/F4DL31uxPIU

Aurora wiped away the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes as Tony and Steve exchanged their vows. As Maid of Honour she stood to the left of the two grooms, while Rhodey stood to their right as Best Man. Given that this was the wedding of Tony Stark and Captain America no expense had been spared and the amassed crowd of everyone who was anyone sat under a large canopy of white flowers in the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza Hotel. Steve stood tall in his navy blue dress uniform, while Tony had opted for a crisp white tuxedo. Rhodey was also in full dress uniform, while Aurora wore a floor length designer burgundy gown which perfectly matched the peony boutonniere in her father’s lapel.

After the ceremony, while the guests made their way to the gilded Terrace Room, the wedding party made their way outside and across the street to take photos in Central Park, before returning to the hotel to be formally introduced to the waiting guests. Rhodey escorted Aurora into the room first and the pair made their way to the table at the head of the room as behind them Tony and Steve made their entrance, hand in hand to the announcement of, “Mr and Mr Stark-Rogers.”

The MC soon invited the couple to the dance floor for their first dance and Aurora made her way the grand piano on the stage beside the dance floor, neatly sweeping her dress aside as she sat down on the bench seat and flipping her long, curly hair back over her shoulder. She looked up towards her dad and stepdad, smiling at them warmly before placing her fingers against the keys. Tony and Steve slowly began their waltz as the opening notes played out before Aurora started to sing.

_Wise men say only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with you  
Oh, shall I stay, would it be a sin  
Oh, If I can’t help falling in love with you_

_Like a river flows surely to the sea  
Darling so it goes somethings are meant to be  
Take my hand, take my whole life too  
For I can’t help failing in love with you  
  
_

As camera’s flashed, and people cheered, the newly married couple had eyes only for each other as the danced, their daughters voice filling the room and setting the scene for the beginning of the rest of their lives together. As the song came to its inevitable conclusion, Steve placed a hand on Tony’s cheek, pulling him closer until their lips met. When they pulled apart, they made their way over to the piano, pulling Aurora to her feet and into a tight hug.

As the evening continued, Rhodey stood, delivering his Best Man speech full of embarrassing anecdotes about his best friend and leading the crowd in a toast to a long and joyous lifetime. Once Rhodey returned to his seat, Aurora stood, taking his place at the microphone on the small stage. As she began to speak, Madz and Xavier filed onto the stage behind her, picking up their guitars in preparation.

“Hello,” she began nervously, looking out over the sea of people filling the room. “Thank you for being here tonight to help celebrate the love of two men who mean the world to me. Dad, Steve, I love both of you more than I can possibly explain. You inspire me every day and you show me what true love is. I’m not very good at public speaking, so instead of a speech, I have written you a song. It’s about the love I see between the two of you and the love I feel in our family. I hope you like it.”

Soft guitars filled the air, and Aurora closed her eyes briefly before she began to sing.

_I’m safe and sound when you’re around me  
And I thank god that you found me  
I know we’ll make it cause you won’t break it  
Won’t regret the steps we’re taking_

_You lift me higher than the fire  
Give me all my heart desires  
You’re the reason I’m believing   
That our love is enough _

_I won’t be scared if my world is falling apart  
Cause I know you’ll be here with me  
Like you’ve been from the start  
All that I’ve been through brought me closer to you  
No I won’t be scared even if my world is falling apart  
Cause I’ll have you  
  
_

Tony’s eyes were damp when the song concluded, unsure how he had gotten so lucky to have this incredible little family to call his own.


	9. The Letterman Interview: August 2013 (part three)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is shorter chapter just to tie up the Letterman interview and now we are out of flashback sequences and into the meat of the story. Get ready for Harry to make his entrance in the next chapter :)  
> If you're interested I've made some playlists for Rori's music career over on spotify;  
> SkyFire's covers (+the stony wedding song) -  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0tzSeBjzpyaUt9JrMwJuZW?si=n6s6ldV6Tp-psgsdGDx1jA  
> Aurora's solo work for the rest of the fic -  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4OuPl9DReqvrUqTVb2kOhJ?si=EtQ0KzbhQPeQX1Y53zHR6Q  
> Songs that Rori has written for other artists -  
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0DHIC8qTFv35iIDCAjezi0?si=iua8ouP2Q5KKPs7LyZZM1Q  
> More songs written by Rori that she has released her own demo's for - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5UgzRb9uw8SSbnwvIDpc61?si=5thUrmNASuyDXXvyQkuB7A

“Now that we’ve talked family life, let’s talk music,” Letterman said. “You started your band not long after you moved to New York, is that correct?”  
“It is,” Rori agreed. “We met in our Junior year at LaGuardia High and after a few weeks playing together we started posting cover songs on YouTube.”  
“And you started writing songs for other artists around the same time?”  
“Yeah,” she nodded, “Maybe a month or two after we started the band, we’d decided we were just going to cover songs we liked, but I was also writing a whole heap at the time and Dad helped me get an agent and I started licensing them out and some big names started picking them up and recording them.”  
“With all the songs that you’ve written, that other artists are now starting to have success with, why is it that your band have never recorded any of them for yourselves?”  
“I guess it just wasn’t something we wanted to explore,” Rori answered with a shrug. “The band was never meant to be as big as it was. It was just a fun little high school thing, but after the story leaked about me being a Stark it just blew up. None of us ever planned on being famous musicians, you know?”  
“But now you do have this platform so what’s the plan for SkyFire now that you’ve all finished high school?”  
“We’ve actually called it quits,” Rori chuckled in response to Letterman’s surprise. “We’ve all had an incredible time over the last year and a half, but the wedding last month was our last gig since we’re going our separate ways for college. I’m staying here in the city, but the boys are off to the west coast. It was a great opportunity for all of us but we’re each excited to go our own ways for a while.”  
“What’s next for you then, personally?” David asked.   
“I’m starting college next month,” Rori replied. “I got into Columbia University to study fine art and I’m hoping to keep growing my song writing career.”  
“Well good luck with college and I know that I won’t be the only one eagerly watching to see what is next in your career,” Letterman said. “Thank you for joining me this evening Aurora and thank you as well to those watching at home.”

Letterman turned away from the camera as the director called cut and the crew busied themselves around the set. “That was great,” he told the young woman. “The team will edit it together and we’ll send you the final cut before we air it next week.”  
“Sounds great,” Rori said. “Thank you, you made it far less intimidating than I thought it would be.”  
“You are very welcome.”


	10. The AMAs: November 2013

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should this have been 2 chapters? Probably. Was I having way too much fun introducing these 2 awkward ducklings to each other? Absolutely.
> 
> Check out my tumblr for fake instargram posts and spotify playlists https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist

It was a sunny day in late October and Rori was on her way home from classes at Columbia. Since she had no reason to be in a hurry, she had opted to walk home through Central Park, which would take about an hour instead of the 20 minute subway ride she usually took to reach Avengers Tower. She had her sunglasses on, headphones in and music blasting as she strolled through the park. As she walked, her music cut out to be replaced by her ring tone, and instead of pulling her phone from her pocket, she raised her hand glancing at the screen of her StarkWatch. Her managers face displayed on the small device and she quickly answered the call.

“Hey Mark,” she greeted, “What’s up?”

“I’ve figured out the perfect way to debut your first solo single,” the older man said in lieu of a greeting.

“I thought I’d just post a video on my channel?” Rori replied, hitching her bag further up her shoulder as she continued to walk through the park.

“And I thought I explained that we need to go bigger than a YouTube video for your first single,” he said, his tone exasperated.

“You did,” Rori sighed. “So, what am I doing instead?”

“You’re going to be performing at the AMAs next month.”  
“I’m what?” She gasped, lurching to a halt in the middle of the footpath in shock. “Holy Shit Mark!”

“I know!” Mark laughed, “How incredible is this?”

“It’s big,” Rori said. “It’s really big. Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“Are you crazy? This is going to be incredible for your profile.”

“I don’t think my profile really needs any more of a boost at this point. Everyone and their dog seems to know who I am.” As if summoned by her words, Rori noticed a group of girls looking her way and attempting to take photos of her on their phones.

“But after the AMAs they’ll know you as Aurora Stark; Solo Artist, instead of Aurora Stark; Daughter of Tony Stark,” Mark explained. “You trust me, right?”

“Of course, I trust you Mark,” Rori promised, beginning to walk again, pressing her thumb firmly into the palm of her other hand nervously. “You wouldn’t be my manager if I didn’t trust you but I’m nervous. I’ve never performed without the guys and millions of people watch the AMAs. What if I screw up?”

“You won’t kid. The song is incredible and so are you. You’re going to kill this.”

“I hope you’re right,” she mumbled.

xXx

Shortly before she was due to step out on stage, Aurora was sitting in the hallway, hugging her knees to her chest, while resting her forehead against them. Her breathing was rapid, and she knew that if she unclenched her arms from their grip around her legs then her hands would be trembling uncontrollably.

“Aurora Stark, you’re on in 10,” a voice shouted and Rori felt her heartbeat accelerate in response. She was so caught up in her panic that at first, she was unaware that someone had sat down next to her on the floor.

“You alright love?” he asked.

“Just trying not to throw up on this ridiculously expensive gown,” Rori replied, not lifting her head.

“First performance?” he asked.

“First as a solo artist,” she replied, finally feeling her breathing begin to steady. The conversation with this stranger successfully snapping her out of her thought spiral and helping her to collect herself.

She took another deep breath before lifting her head and offering a small smile to her rescuer. Her smile froze on her face when she caught sight of the man next to her.  
“Hi, I’m Harry.”

“Aurora,” she whispered.

“Aurora Stark, right?” he asked. “I was pretty sure it was you, but it was hard to tell with your face buried in your dress.”

She nodded, thankful that her brain was still to busy freaking out about going on stage that it had no space left to freak out about Harry Styles sitting next to her and chatting to her like he wasn’t Harry Styles.

“I’m a big fan,” Harry added. “Love your channel and the song you wrote for your dad’s wedding was fantastic.”

“Thank you,” Aurora said. “Big fan of yours too.”

Harry blushed in response, waving a hand in front of him as if to physically brush off the compliment.

“I caught your performance earlier,” Rori said somewhat shyly. “You were great. I love _Story of My Life_.”

“Thanks love,” Harry replied, smiling warmly at her, before abruptly standing and offering his hand out to pull her to her feet. “Better get you ready to go,” he said as a voice called out, interrupting their conversation.

“Aurora Stark, 5 minutes.”

Rori ran her hands over the skirt of her golden floor-length gown, ensuring that she had not creased it while she had been curled up on the floor. Harry reached forward, pushing a loose strand of hair back into place.

“Ready?” he asked.

“I sure hope so,” she answered. She was gripping her hands together nervously, attempting to stop their shaking. “Got any advice for me?”

He surprised her by asking his own question instead of answering. “What’s your opening line?”

“Weatherman said it’s gonna snow,” she replied almost automatically.

Harry smiled widely. “Just remember that and you’ll be fine,” he promised.

She smiled back in response, before a tech arrived by her side and ushered her towards side of stage and she prepared to step out. Right before she stepped out, she looked back over her shoulder to find him still standing there watching her, a smile lit up his face and he gave her a confident thumbs up.

The stage was dark as she stepped out to stand before the microphone stand, a cellist and violinist sitting behind her over each shoulder, the final member of her backing band sat at a beautiful grand piano off to the right of stage. The lights lifted as the opening notes rang out and Aurora allowed herself a brief moment to look out across the crowd before she began the opening line. Harry’s advice proved to be correct; as soon as she made it through that first line the rest of the song poured out of her.

_Weatherman said it's gonna snow  
By now I should be used to the cold  
Mid-February shouldn't be so scary  
It was only December I still remember  
The presents, the tree, you and me_

_But you went away  
How dare you?  
I miss you  
They say I'll be OK  
But I'm not going to ever get over you_

She had spent the last 3 years writing, rewriting, practicing and perfecting this song and she knew it better than any other song she had ever performed before. It was the first song she had ever written, the one she had kept to herself for so long. It was so personal that it was only years after she had first composed the chorus that she had shared it with Mark, confessing that she had never even let the band hear it. It was this song that had convinced Mark, and in turn Aurora herself, that she should pursue a solo career. Aurora thought of her mother as she sang of her grief, the raw emotion evident to everyone listening, either in the audience in front of her or watching at home.

_Living alone here in this place  
I think of you, and I'm not afraid  
Your favourite records make me feel better  
Cause you sing along with every song  
I know you didn't mean to give them to me_

_But you went away  
How dare you?  
I miss you  
They say I'll be OK  
But I'm not going to ever get over you_

_It really sinks in you know  
When I see it in stone_

She took a deep breath, steeling herself emotionally for the final chorus. She dropped her voice, softly singing the next few lines before throwing her arms out wide and closing her eyes as she belted out the second to last line of the song.

_Cause you went away  
How dare you?  
I miss you  
They say I'll be OK  
But I'm not going to ever get over you  
Ever get over you_

She looked towards the ceiling as she uttered the final line, the tears she had felt building throughout the performances finally falling down her checks as the song came to a close and she was met by a loud applause from the hundreds of guests.

She made her way off the stage, wiping away her tears, and finding herself not as surprised as she should have been that Harry was standing almost exactly where she had left him.

“Told you, you’d be great,” he smiled as she approached him.

“Thank you,” Aurora replied, her matching smile lighting up her face.

“Now I’ve got to head back to my seat before the lads think I’ve done a runner, but please tell me you’ll be at the after party?”

“I wasn’t really planning on it,” Rori admitted. “I’m not 21 so I can’t really get in most places.”

“Neither am I love,” Harry said with a smirk, “and besides, they don’t really card you at these types of things. Especially not after you just smashed that song. I’d love a chance to chat with you. Please come?”

“OK,” Rori blushed, “I’ll be there.”

Harry’s smile grew bigger somehow in response, before leaving to find the rest of his band in the crowd and Aurora went in search of her dads.

She was ushered to her seat during the next commercial break and both Steve and Tony pulled her into crushing hugs, with matching grins of pride stretching across their faces.

“You were so incredible up there kid,” Tony said, pulling away from the hug as Rori settled into her seat. They enjoyed the remainder of the awards show and as they stood to leave at the end, Rori turned to face the two men.

“I got invited to the after party,” she told them, “and I promise I won’t drink, and I’ll be back to the hotel by a reasonable time.”

Steve laughed as she rushed through her promise. “Are you sure you’re her biological father Tony?” he joked.

“Sometimes I wonder,” Tony laughed in response. “Go have fun kiddo. You’ve earned it.”

Aurora looked between both of them in confusion. “You two are the weirdest parents ever,” she declared, to which they both just shrugged with another laugh.

xXx

Harry had been right that no one was carding the guests at the afterparty and Aurora easily glided into the venue, ordering a coke at the bar before finding a stool by a table over against the wall. She looked out across the dancefloor and the steadily growing crowd, sipping on her drink and starting to question why she had come. She was not a huge fan of parties, never having been the type to get invited to them in high school and although she had attended a couple of events at the Columbia sorority houses since classes had begun two months earlier, she hadn’t really enjoyed them. She didn’t drink and had never really been great at making friends easily even before she had to worry that people were only being friendly because of her parents. Before she could convince herself that it had been a mistake coming out, she spotted the One Direction boys arrive. She stayed on her stool for another 20 or so minutes before Harry spotted her through the crowd and made his way over to her side.

“You came!” he yelled, his trademark smile lighting up his face, forcing a matching grin across Rori’s

“I did,” she agreed, blushing as he leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“I’m glad. I was hoping we’d get a chance to talk,” he said, pulling up another stool next to hers. They chatted for almost an hour about anything and everything before the conversation returned to the awards ceremony earlier in the evening.

“I think in all the craziness I forgot to congratulate you,” Rori said. “Must feel pretty good to have won tonight.”

“Thank you, love,” Harry replied. “I think we all feel really grateful, you know, but I should be the one congratulating you. I mean it’s not often someone debuts their solo career on national tv.”

“It was my managers idea,” Rori said. “I just wanted to post a music video on my YouTube channel, but he said we needed to go all out.”

“Well then your manager is a genius. That song was incredible, and it deserved something big. Do you mind if I ask the story behind it?”

“I don’t know, it’s a long story I guess,” Rori said with a shrug.

“Well we’ve got all night,” Harry replied.

“And we’re going nowhere,” Rori mumbled, blushing as soon as the words left her mouth. Harry laughed loudly, clasping a hand to his chest as he lent backwards on his stool and for a brief moment, she worried that he would fall.

“You weren’t kidding about being a fan,” he finally said once his laughter had died down.

“Oh god,” Rori moaned, covering her face with her hands, her cheeks blazing with shame. “This is so embarrassing.”

“Don’t be embarrassed, love.” Harry reached forward pulling her hand from her face, not letting go as their joined hands rested in her lap. “I’m flattered.”

“In my defence,” she laughed. “I was a 15 year old British girl whose mum was obsessed with the X Factor, so I never really had a choice about becoming a fan. It was predetermined.”

“Well then I won’t hold it against you,” he promised. “At least tell me I was your favourite though.” The blush returned to her face in full force causing him to break into another tear-inducing bought of laughter. “Damn,” he sighed. “Who was it then?”

“I think I’d like to plead the fifth your honour,” she replied. “But if it makes you feel better, you were my mum’s favourite. She used to say you seemed like you’d be a wonderfully polite young man.”

“Well thank god someone in your family has taste,” he joked, causing Rori to slap his arm. “But we got distracted,” he added, “you were going to tell me about your song.”

“I started writing it like 3 years ago,” Rori explained. “Not long after my mum died, just the chorus at first and then over the years the verses have fallen into place and then I’ve been sitting on it for about a year. Nobody had ever heard it until I showed my manager a few months ago.”

“Why’d you never share it with your band or family or anyone?” Harry asked, leaning forward to grasp her hand once again.

“It was so personal,” Rori admitted. “I knew I could never let anyone else sing it and before Dad’s wedding I’d never sung any of my original songs myself. I’d only ever done covers and I think I was just a bit scared of it. But then once I decided to sing, _I’ll Have You_ at the wedding and we decided to end the band, Mark and I started talking about what was next for me and I played it and a couple of other songs for him. The second he heard it he was so sure it had to be my debut and I trust his opinion, so I just had to go for it.”

“And you smashed it,” Harry said, squeezing her hand gently in his. “It really was incredible. The emotion and the power of that was just something else. I’m sure your mum would be really proud.”

“I’m just so glad I didn’t burst out sobbing halfway through,” Rori admitted, “Although I was crying by the end.”

Harry was interrupted from replying when Louis appeared at his shoulder, a pint in hand. “Oi Hazza!” he cheered loudly. “What are you doing hiding over here? You’re missing the party.”

“I’m talking to Aurora, Lou,” Harry explained, drawing his friend’s attention to the girl sitting next to him.

“Oh,” Louis replied. “Hi there.”

“Hi,” Rori echoed, “It’s nice to meet you Louis.”

“Oh, you too,” the shorter man replied. “Harry hasn’t shut up since he met you backstage earlier. He’s had a massive crush on you for ages.”

It was Harry’s turn to blush as Aurora burst out laughing. “Hey Lou, can you do me a favour and fuck off please?” Harry asked. Louis joined Aurora in her laughter, stumbling a little in his drunken state as he stepped forward to place his hand on her shoulder.

“Nah, but in all seriousness, he’s a great bloke,” Louis told her and before she could reply he was quickly distracted by someone passing by and he walked away without another word. Aurora was a little shocked and stared off after Louis as he disappeared into the crowd.

“I guess it’s my turn to be embarrassed now?” Harry asked timidly, pulling her attention back to him.

“Don’t be. I’m flattered,” she replied, echoing his previous statement and they slipped back into the easy conversation that had occupied the last hour or so.

Much later in the evening Aurora caught sight of the time, noting that it was well after midnight, although the party showed no signs of winding down. “It’s getting late,” she pointed out. “I should probably be heading back to my hotel before my parents start to worry.”

Harry’s face dropped a little in response to her words before quickly schooling his features. “Yeah, of course,” he replied. “It was really nice meeting you.”

“Do you maybe want to swap numbers?” Rori asked somewhat shyly, watching a genuine smile appear once again on Harry’s face as he pulled out his phone without hesitation. They swapped numbers and then Harry once again kissed her cheek before she headed towards the exit, already dialling Happy to come pick her up.


	11. Christmas 2013

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author note: I’m adding a week break after the 3 London shows of the Where We Are Tour in June otherwise assume the real life timetable. 
> 
> also some of you may have seen my post a few days ago about fucking up the timeline so if you had already read the first 10 chapters I've slightly edited them. Long story short: Rori's mum now died at the end of 2010 and she only spent 6 months in foster care instead of the year and a half originally.

Christmas in Avengers tower that year was a big event. It was the second Christmas the group was spending together and as such they were very comfortable around each other and excited to spend the holiday as a family. Aurora, Natasha and Bruce had put up the tree on the first weekend of December and everyone had helped with the decorating over mugs of hot chocolate. JARVIS provided a steady stream of festive music throughout the month and there were bells, garlands and boughs of holly strung across every surface of the penthouse. Throughout the entirety of December, either Aurora or Steve filled the kitchen with the smells of gingerbread cookies, pecan pies, yule logs, mince pies and Christmas puddings. In the final week leading up to Christmas Aurora sat her first university exams, feeling utterly relieved when they were finally over. She and Harry had been texting and FaceTiming constantly since meeting the previous month, and she was growing more and more attached to the pop star. 

On the 23rd of December, after Rori came home from her final exam, the team gathered around on the various sofas and beanbags with pizza boxes strewn between them as they watched Die Hard. Aurora was laying across one of the sofas, her slipper clad feet in Steve’s lap and her head settled on a cushion on Natasha’s who was running her hands through the teenager’s hair. She shuffled around on the sofa, pulling her phone from her pocket as it buzzed about halfway through the movie. A smile stretched across her face as she read through the text.

**◊Harry: How’d your final exam go? Did ya crush it?**

**◊Aurora: I think I did ok. Fingers crossed. What are your plans today?**

**◊Harry: Just packing a bag before driving back home, you?**

**◊Aurora: Watching Die Hard with the team**

**◊Harry: oh god you’re one of those people. Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie!!!**

**◊Aurora: how dare you! You take that back right now. IT’S SET AT A CHRISTMAS PARTY HAROLD**

**◊Harry: it could be set on any other day and the movie would be exactly the same. It’s not a Christmas movie**

**◊Aurora: you’re so wrong I’m not going to dignify that with a response**

“What’s with the shit eating grin?” Clint called out, throwing a pillow across the room, hitting Rori in the head. “You’re missing the movie.”

“She’s probably texting her new boyfriend,” Tony said, throwing a cheeky smirk towards his daughter, watching gleefully as she blushed, burying her face into the pillow under her.

“Boyfriend?” Natasha asks, poking her shoulder. “What boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Rori mumbles, not enjoying the attention from the group who had completely forgotten the movie. “We’re just talking.”

“If you’re smiling like that while texting a boy then I hate to break it to you but you’re dating,” Clint offered. “I don’t make the rules.”

“And she’s already got plans to see him once we get to London next week for New Year’s,” Tony said.

“Omg dad, shut up!” Rori yelled, throwing Clint’s pillow at her father’s head, huffing in annoyance when he dodged it.

“What’s his name?” Bruce asked, seemingly genuinely interested.

“Harry,” Rori replied. “Now, everyone leave me alone and watch Bruce Willis save Christmas.”

xXx

As had become their tradition, Steve and Tony left Aurora alone for the most of Christmas Eve, only seeking her out later in the evening to watch The Santa Clause and have waffles for dinner. The rest of the team made themselves scarce for the day, allowing her to process the day in her own small way.

xXx

A few days after Christmas Aurora, Tony and Steve made their way to JFK and boarded the Stark private jet, bound for London, where they had plans to stay for two weeks before flying home to New York in time for Rori to go back to college. After arriving and checking into their hotel, Tony organised for a car to pick them up and they headed south of the city towards Wimbledon. Aurora was bouncing with excitement once the car finally pulled to a stop out the front of the Golden Stag pub, and she was already opening the front door by the time either Tony or Steve had left the car. She stepped into the pub, familiar scents and sounds washing over her for a moment before Helen looked up from behind the bar, her eyes lighting up as soon as she saw the younger woman.

“Aurora!” she cried, already rushing around the end of the bar. Rori pushed forward, the two women colliding in a hug as Tony and Steve finally walked through the door. While Rori and Helen continued to hug each other tightly, the men looked around the small pub, they had been there once before, the previous year and from what they could tell nothing had changed. Yellowed lights still hung from the low wood-panelled ceiling and rickety chairs and tables still filled the floorspace, while the same old patrons perched at the bar nursing their drinks. It was rundown and old, nothing like the types of places Tony usually found himself in, but Steve liked its charm and could easily picture a little Rori running around, dodging between the tables and getting up to mischief. The two women finally pulled apart from their hug as Helen’s husband Greg joined them. While Greg pulled Rori in for another warm hug, Helen turned to Steve and Tony. “It’s so good to see you two boys again,” she told them, already herding them towards a booth against the side wall. “Have a seat and we’ll get you something to eat. What would you like?”

All three ordered some food and Aurora couldn’t wipe the broad smile off her face as they relaxed into the plush booth seats. Steve let his eyes wonder, spotting a photo of Louise and a young Rori hanging on the wall behind the bar, as well as Aurora’s old piano over on the other side of the room, evidence that even though she had left London, Rori was still very much remembered here.

They stayed at the Golden Stag for most of the afternoon, allowing Aurora to catch up with what she had missed in the year since their last visit, and while they had plans to catch up with old friends while in town, they all promised to come back for dinner on Aurora’s birthday in a few days’ time.

xXx

The day after they arrived in town, Tony and Steve headed off to see Peggy Carter at her nursing home, while Rori caught the tube out to Hampstead Heath for lunch with Harry. She had her beanie pulled low over her forehead and scarf wrapped up around her chin to ward off the cold weather and combined with her large sunglasses, she was left completely unrecognisable as she entered the small café. She spotted Harry already sitting at a table in the back corner and swiftly made a beeline for him through the tables. The place was fairly empty given that it was midday on a Thursday so there weren’t too many curious eyes watching when Rori removed her hat, scarf and sunglasses, smiling warmly as Harry stood to kiss her cheek and pull out her chair for her.

“It’s so good to see you again, Love,” he said once they were both seated, and Aurora quickly agreed. They fell into easy conversation, much as they had over text or phone calls during the past month, staying in the café for a few hours until their third round of coffees had been finished. “How about a walk through the heath?” Harry asked as the café started to fill with the after school crowd.

“Sounds perfect,” Aurora agreed, and both stood, shrugging into their coats and pulling on their beanies and scarves. The winter air was crisp and biting as they stepped out on the footpath and Harry offered his arm to Rori as they walked the short distance to the sprawling heath. She looped her arm through his before tucking her hands back into her pockets and she pressed herself into his side as they walked along the wide paths in the sunshine. There were plenty of others walking nearby but nobody seemed aware of the two celebrities passing them by for which both were grateful.

“So, when does tour start?” Aurora asked as they walked.

“May,” Harry replied. “First shows in Dublin on the 23rd and then it’s pretty much non-stop until we reach the States at the start of October. Think we’ve got a week off in June before we start the European leg.”

“I’ll be on my summer break by then, maybe I could come visit.”

“That would be great,” Harry said with a huge grin. “You should come with us for some of the tour before you go back to school.”

“As a friend or…”

“Or as my girlfriend,” Harry replied, pulling them both to a stand still as he turned to face her nervously. “If that’s something you’d want?” Instead of answering, Aurora stepped forward and lifted herself up her toes to press their lips together. Harry hands found their way to her waist as she placed one of her own on his shoulder to steady herself, the other curling around the side of his neck as the kiss deepened. They were both breathing heavily when they pulled apart, their breath fogging in the air between them as they both smiled, giddy with the beginning of love.


	12. London: January 2014

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've made another fake Instagram post for this chapter so head over and check that out  
> https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist
> 
> Not to be needy on main but please leave comments, I'm really enjoying this story but writing can be a bit of a lonely endeavour so it really helps to know that people are liking the story

On the 2nd of January, Aurora once again made her way back to the Golden Stag. She offered a wave of greeting to Greg behind the bar when she walked through the front door and headed over to one of the booths along the wall to wait. Her best friend, Ella, walked through the door 15 minutes later.

“Sorry I’m late,” the blonde yelled as she barrelled into the pub, a hurricane of energy as always. Aurora laughed as Ella rushed toward her and she stood just in time to catch the other girl in a hug.

“I think I’d genuinely die of shock if you ever arrived anywhere on time,” Aurora replied when they both pulled apart and sat down at the table. Greg appeared a few moments later with a coke for Ella and a sprite for Rori, the two girls too predictable for him to need their drink orders. “Thanks Greg,” Rori cheered, taking a sip of her drink.

“You’re welcome,” the older man said. “Good to see you El. What can I get you girls?”

“I’ll have the fish and chips please,” Ella ordered, while Rori nodded and gestured that she would have the same. As Greg walked away from the table the girls dove into discussion. Despite having lived in separate countries for the last 2 and a half years, they had successfully maintained their friendship, rarely going more than a day or two without messaging or calling each other. As such there wasn’t as much to catch up on since they’d last seen each other on Rori’s last visit as one would expect. Rori explained in minute detail every aspect of the AMAs, only glossing over some of her interactions with Harry, keeping most of their conversations private, while giving Ella enough details to keep her friend satisfied and sufficiently excited.

They’d mostly finished their food when Ella’s head snapped up to meet Rori’s gaze. “Shit I totally forgot that Mum told me to invite you and your dads for dinner tonight.”

“Can I get a rain check?” Rori replied, “I’ve got plans tonight.”

“What kind of plans?”

“Dinner and a games night apparently.”

“With who?”

“No one you know.”

“Are they famous?” Ella asked, “because I know that I’m the only one you stayed in contact with after you moved to the states so it’s no one from school.”

“Yeah, they’re famous,” Rori replied, scrunching up her face in response to the word.

“Enough of that, spill. Who is it?”

“You’re not allowed to freak out, Ok?”

“Ok,” Ella agreed excitedly, causing Rori to shake her head with a chuckle.

“It’s at Louis Tomlinson’s house.” The other people in the bar turned to stare at the girls as Ella squealed. “I thought I said you couldn’t freak out,” Rori chided.

“Louis fucking Tomlinson?” Ella asked in shock. “How the fuck is Louis Tomlinson inviting you to his house?”

“Actually, Harry invited me,” Aurora explained.

“Harry Styles invited you to games night at Louis Tomlinson’s house?”

“Please stop saying their full names like that,” Rori begged. “It’s weird.”

“Well I’m sorry I’m not on a first name basis with Louis Tomlinson or Harry Styles,” Ella replied. “You better start talking right now because you have been holding out on me, I thought you said you’d just been talking with Harry a little since the AMAs but know he’s inviting you to Louis house so you’ve clearly skipped some pertinent details.”

“Ok, we’ve maybe spent a bit of time together since I flew in on Sunday,” Rori admitted.

“Oh My God!” Ella gasped. “You sneak. Tell me everything. Wait is Harry who you spent New Year’s Eve with? You said you had an industry party but were you really with him?”

“First of all, it was an industry party, but yes I did go to it with Harry, but we actually caught up the day before for lunch. I swear to god you better not shriek again but he asked me to be his girlfriend.” Aurora rolled her eyes as Ella clamped her hands over her mouth to muffle her excited response. “You can’t say a word to anyone El,” Aurora said. “Please, you know what the Directioners are like. We just want to keep it out of the media for now.”

“Of course, I’ll keep it secret,” El promised. “Can I tell mum though?” She breathed a sigh of relief when the brunette nodded. “ You have to admit that this is bizarre,” Ella continued. “Imagine going back in time and telling 15 year old Rori that she’d grow up to date Harry. Omg your kids are gonna be so adorable and the wedding! The wedding will be the event of the fucking season.”

“Easy El,” Rori laughed. “We’ve been dating for 3 days, let’s not go talking about weddings and kids ok.”

“Seriously though. We went to the X Factor finale and were crying when they didn’t win and now you know them and talk to them and you’re going to their game’s night! You better introduce me at some point or you’re a terrible best friend.”

“I promise I will introduce you,” Rori told her best friend. “Just give me a month or two to get used to the idea myself. Trust me I’m just as overwhelmed by the idea as you are. I mean I’m kind of freaking out about tonight.”

“Oh, babe don’t,” Ella said. “They’ll all love you.”

“I hope you’re right,” Rori replied nervously.

They stayed at the pub for another few hours, chatting and laughing before Aurora had to leave to go back to the hotel to get ready before dinner. As they were leaving Greg popped out from behind the bar to give both girls a hug goodbye and reminding Rori that he would see her on Saturday night for her birthday dinner with himself, Helen and Rori’s dads.

xXx

Aurora let out a nervous breath as the Addison Lee pulled up outside the white expanse of Louis’ north London house. Harry was waiting on the doorstep for her, stepping forward to open her door and offered her a hand as she exited the car. He pulled her in for a tight hug as the car drove away and then kissed her briefly before pulling back to look at her.

“Hi,” he greeted, smiling brightly down at her.

“Hi,” Rori echoed with a laugh.

“Shall we?” Harry asked, gesturing to the front door in front of them. Aurora nodded, placing her hand on his offered elbow as he ushered her into the high ceilinged foyer. “Everyone’s out back,” he said as they walked down the hallway.

“Who exactly is everyone?” Aurora asked.

“Louis and his girlfriend Eleanor, Liam and his girlfriend Sophia, Zayn and Niall,” Harry listed. “We always get together after we spend Christmas with our families,” Harry explained. “We have a games night with the girlfriends and just hang out as friends before all the craziness of touring kicks off again.”

“Sounds like fun,” Rori said as the pair finally reached the back of the large house to find the previously mentioned group sat around a fire pit on the patio.

“Aurora!” Louis cheered when they came into view. “So glad you came, Love. Harrold, the UberEats delivery should be here in a minute, be a lad and go grab it for us.” Harry looked to Rori hesitantly, not wanting to abandon her immediately after arriving. “Oh, just go,” Louis continued, “I’ll introduce your girl.”

Harry turned on his heel and walked back into the house, leaving Rori to approach the circle of friends sitting around the fire pit, taking one of the two empty seats. “So everyone, this is Aurora,” Louis announced, before pointing to each person and providing Rori with their names.

“It’s so nice to meet you all,” Rori offered, “Thanks for inviting me.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Eleanor replied, “and of course you got an invite. It’s a right of passage for anyone dating one of this idiots.”

Harry returned shortly after, his arms loaded up with pizza boxes, chicken wings and rolls of garlic bread. “Grubs up!” he announced cheerfully as he dumped everything onto the table beside the fire and then collapsed into the seat next to Rori. “They’re not given you a hard time, are they?” he asked his girlfriend.

“Not at all,” Rori said, smiling as he reached out for her hand, threading their fingers together.

The night was spent chatting, eating and drinking, as well as playing Uno, a disastrous attempt at monopoly, snap and go fish. Rori had been surprised to find the boys very easy to talk to and it took very little time for her to shake off her nerves. By the time she had been halfway through her second slice of pizza she had almost forgotten that the young men surrounding her where the same boys she had screamed at in concert years ago. Hours later, when the fire had burned down to a few embers and everyone but Rori was 4 or 5 drinks in, they sat in the near darkness talking quietly. Rori found herself talking football with Louis given that her team, AFC Wimbledon, had recently played his Doncaster Rovers in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy the previous month. The pair found themselves deep in conversation about the league tables, completely unaware of the soft look Harry was throwing their way, so happy to see his girlfriend and one of his brothers getting along so quickly and easily.

Eventually everyone started to yawn, and the night wound its way to its conclusion with cars called and everyone hugging each other goodbye. Harry walked with Aurora to the front door, waiting with her until her car arrived to take her back into the city. He held open the door for her as she climbed in and then surprised her by joining her on the backseat.

“And where do you think you’re going?” she chuckled as he leaned his head against her shoulder, his lips pressing gently against her neck.

“Not ready to call it a night,” he mumbled, his hand coming to rest on her waist. “Can I kiss you?” he asked, ever the gentleman, even if a little tipsy. Aurora nodded slightly as he mouthed his way up along her jaw, finally reaching her lips and the pair continued to make out for the entire ride to Rori’s hotel.


	13. Aurora’s Birthday & New York 2014

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It wouldn't be a SuperFamily fic without the Spider-Son. Here comes Peter!
> 
> Also, I've made another fake Instagram post for this chapter so head over and check that out  
> https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist

Aurora was confused when she and her dads walked up towards the front of the Golden Stag on Saturday evening for her birthday dinner. The chalkboard was set out on the footpath announcing, **WE ARE** **CLOSED: PRIVATE PARTY**. “I thought it was just us, Helen and Greg for dinner?” Rori asked after reading the sign.

“They probably closed so that they can enjoy their dinner without worrying about customers,” Tony replied smoothly.

“Yeah, that makes sense,” she said, reaching out to push open the front door. Aurora froze on the threshold as a chorus of _surprises_ tore through the small crowd amassed inside the small pub. She felt her eyes grow warm as Tony stepped up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Happy Birthday Kid,” he whispered, kissing her cheek and gently pushing her forward into the room.

Ella was the first person to rush forward and throw her arms around her best friend. “Happy Birthday Rors,” she cheered. “Were you surprised?”

“Absolutely,” Rori replied. “I had absolutely no idea.” She smiled warmly as she looked around the room, taking in everyone who had come to celebrate her 19th birthday. Helen and Greg were there of course, as was Ella’s mum Rebecca, the Stag regulars Tom, David, Mick and Jim were also there, but it was the unexpected addition of the 5 other men amongst the small group that surprised Rori. Harry’s smile split across his face as their eyes locked, Liam, Niall, Louis and Zayn standing next to him. Helen ordered everyone to pull up a seat as she began dishing up hearty servings of the best looking Sunday roast Rori had ever seen, but before she could take the seat left for her at the head of the table, Harry was by her side.

“Happy Birthday love,” he said, his voice low and husky.

“Thank you,” Rori replied with a soft smile, very aware of both of her fathers watching their interaction. “I never expected you to be here, or the other guys.”

“It was your dad’s idea,” Harry replied, reaching out to take one of her hands in his, playing with her fingers absently as they spoke.

“Which one?” Rori asked.

“Steve. Not sure how he got my number, but he called yesterday to invite me, and I suggested bringing the rest of the band too.”

“Dad probably had JARVIS pull your number off my phone,” Rori said. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Me too,” Harry replied, kissing her cheek before leading her over to the table filled with her family and friends. He pulled out her seat for her and then made his way down to the other end of table to sit with the guys. Throughout dinner Rori found her eyes returning to Harry and his face would light up with a smile every time their eyes met, causing Rori to blush. Tony watched the looks and smiled softly to himself, nudging Steve with his elbow to draw his husband’s attention to the young couples flirting. Steve chuckled softly, happier than he could explain to see their daughter falling in love. After dinner, before the cake was served Rori watched as Harry quietly excused himself and headed towards the toilets. A few minutes later she not so subtly also excused herself from the table. She found him walking back towards the table, grabbing his hand and pulling him into the stairwell leading to her old apartment, out of the sight of the table. She stepped up onto the lowest step, bringing her face level with Harry’s and lent forward to kiss him.

“I’ve wanted to do that all night,” he whispered against her lips when they pulled apart, foreheads resting against each other as their breath mixed together between them.

“Me to,” Rori replied, her fingers tangling themselves in his curls. She pulled him back into another kiss, deeper than the last, her breathing turning shallow as his hands rested on her hips, pulling her flush against his torso. They sprung apart a few minutes later when someone coughed loudly behind Harry. They both blushed profusely as Ella grinned back at them.

“If you two would like to stop eating each other’s faces,” the blonde chuckled, “the rest of us are ready for cake.”

“Be there in a minute,” Rori told her best friend, watching as she turned on her heels and headed back to the table. Rori dropped her head against Harry’s shoulder as she heard her best friend loudly address the group.

“They were sucking face but still fully clothed so we’re all good.”

“OMG,” Rori moaned. “She’s gonna be the death of me.”

Harry chuckled, tucking her hair behind her ear. “How likely are your dads to kill me?”

“They’ll probably thank you,” Rori laughed. “They’re honestly the weirdest. They’re always trying to convince me to go to parties and be young or whatever. I mean they were troublemakers their whole lives and then they had this shy 16 year old land on their doorstep and they’re baffled by me.”

Harry chuckled again, lacing their fingers together and tugging her reluctantly back into the main room. Louis and Liam wolf whistled as the pair re-emerged, causing the blush to return to both of their cheeks. “Yeah alright,” Harry said, “lay off.”

“Anyway,” Helen called out, “now that the birthday girl is ready to grace us with her presence again. Who wants cake?”

Harry sat down, pulling Rori onto his lap as the cake was sliced and handed out to everyone. She looked across the table to where her parents were sitting, catching a smirk on Tony’s face while Steve smacked him lightly on the shoulder. “Leave her alone,” she heard him tell his husband. “You’re such a shit stirrer.”

xXx

The morning after her birthday dinner, Aurora met Harry for Sunday brunch at a trendy café in east London. While they knew they were risking being spotted together, neither could say they really cared, and they decided that while they wouldn’t publicly announce their relationship, they also wouldn’t actively try to hide from the world either. Luckily no one seemed to pay them much attention as they ate, chatting happily and nocking their feet against each other under the table. Aurora had often felt herself marvelling at the normalcy of talking to Harry. In the 6 weeks she had known him he had never once acted like the majority of famous people she’d encountered since moving to New York. He didn’t flaunt his wealth; he didn’t name drop other famous people he knew; he was just like any other 20 year old guy Rori might meet at university. They talked about sports, movies, books and other normal things that normal couples talked about, but most of all they talked music. Aurora found that they had similar taste in genres, although Harry didn’t understand her fascination with American country music, no matter how much she tried to explain the appeal of the storytelling and simple chords in her favourite songs. Louise had introduced her to a steady diet of 70s and 80s pop and rock, and she and Ella had obsessed over 90s and 2000s pop, but it wasn’t until she’d moved to the US a few years earlier that she’d really encountered country music. Now her music taste was so varied her go to playlists would jump from the Beatles to ACDC, Lady Gaga to Rascal Flats, Backstreet Boys to Linkin Park or Mayday Parade. As she’d told Harry, she firmly believed that enjoying every genre of music made her a better song writer.

xXx

The Stark-Rogers remained in London for another week and while Aurora made sure to spend plenty of time with Ella and her mum, she also spent as much time as possible with Harry. She hung out with Louis quite a lot as well, finding that other than Harry, he was the band member that she got along with the easiest and they were fast becoming great friends. The day before she was scheduled to fly home to New York, she was lying on the sofa in Harry’s house, a movie playing on the flat screen that neither were paying attention to. Her head was cushioned on his lap, a blanket pulled up to her chest despite the crackling fire nearby.

“I don’t want to go home tomorrow,” she said, looking up at Harry. “These last 2 weeks have been so incredible.”

“I don’t want you to go either,” he replied. “But I’ve got 3 more months before tour prep starts, so I’ll fly out to see you a couple times and then you can come spend summer with me. It’ll be great.”

“Sounds perfect.”

“I’m so glad you get along with the guys,” Harry continued. “It’ll make it so much easier for you to join us on tour.”

“I’m glad they like me,” Rori agreed.

“Like you? They love you,” Harry laughed. “You and Louis together are gonna be a pain in the ass. I can already tell.”

“I always wanted a sibling to get up to mischief with,” Rori confessed. “He kind of feels like the big brother who’d buy booze for you and your friends when you’re underage.”

“Louis can’t help throwing out the strong Big Brother vibes,” Harry agreed. “It’s like he spent so many years being the eldest sibling that he skips the friend’s stage and goes straight to sibling mode. He did it with all of us when the band was put together, and it looks like he’s tucked you under his wing too.”

“I’m happy to be there,” Rori said. “I like being a little sister.”

xXx

In mid-February, Aurora was sitting in her favourite on campus café at Columbia, with her laptop, notebook and art theory textbooks spread out across a small table in the corner. She’d been set up there for most of the day, attempting to get her head around her latest research paper, a steady stream of coffee refills, muffins and a sandwich getting her through the hours. A little after lunch she was joined at the table by her manager, Mark. She attempted to push some of her books to the side to make space for him to rest his coffee on the table, offering him an embarrassed apology.

“I know I’m a mess,” she said. “Thanks again for meeting me here, I was just in the zone and didn’t want to pack everything up to trek across town.”

“All good, hon,” he said. “A meeting is a meeting, regardless of where it is.”

“I’ve been thinking about what you said a few weeks ago about a solo album,” she said, jumping straight to the reason they’d organised to get together. “I don’t think I’m ready for that yet. I mean don’t get me wrong, the response to _Over You_ was incredible but I just don’t think I’m ready to do an album or a tour or anything on my own yet. Please don’t be mad.”

Mark chuckled as she finally took a breath. “I’m not mad,” he promised. “As your manager, it’s my job to help you achieve whatever it is you want to achieve. Do I think a solo career is a smart move for you? Yeah, I do but I’m not going to push you into it if you’re not ready. I kind of figured you weren’t ready yet anyway since we dropped _Over You_ almost 3 months ago and nothing since. Do you know what you want to do instead?”

“I’ve been writing a lot,” Rori said. “So, I think I could probably start churning out demos a lot faster than I was last year. Might need you to find me a guitarist and drummer.”

“I can do that,” Mark replied, typing the note into his phone to follow up later in the day.

“And then I was thinking I’d really like to do some YouTube collabs, but I have no idea how to make that happen.”

“I can reach out to people for you,” Mark said. “Get me a list of people that you’re interested in working with and I’ll see what I can do.”

Aurora smiled in response. “Awesome.”

xXx

Aurora walked through central park late one night in March. It was dark and cold, but she wore a big jacket, but the party at the San Remo had been so loud that even though she’d known it was a bad idea, she’d chosen to walk home from a party. She should have called Happy to come pick her up given the late hour, but it was only a 20 minute walk, and she relished the quite of the park. She was halfway home when she felt someone walking close behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see a tall guy with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up over his head walking close behind her and she quickened her pace, her heartbeat rising and her breathing rapid. She chided herself for being so stupid as to walk through Central Park alone, well after midnight and tried desperately to come up with a plan. She could call her fathers, the tower was only 10 minutes away, closer given the speed of the Iron Man suit, but they would be asleep, and god only knew what this guy would do in the time it took her dad to get to her. It would be useless to scream for help either, there was no one else in the park. She scrolled through the small menu on her StarkWatch, immediately hitting the panic button when it appeared on the screen. She kept walking, not knowing how long it would take for her Dad to wake up, activate the suit and get to her. She just had to hope he arrived before the guy got any ideas.

As if knowing his window of opportunity was closing, he quickened his pace and in an instant, he was right behind her. Suddenly there were hands on her shoulders, and she was pushed towards the ground but when she looked up from where she lay, her would be attacker was running in the opposite direction while a costumed figure stood above her.

“Are you ok?” the guy asked, offering his hand out to help Aurora off the ground. Before Aurora could even thank the man for saving her, she heard the unmistakable sound of repulsors charging up to fire.

“Get away from her,” Tony warned, his voice low and terrifying as he trained the suits weapons on the man in front of her. Aurora scrambled to her feet, throwing her hands out in a peaceful gesture.

“No, no, no, no,” she stammered, “He didn’t attack me. He saved me.” She could imagine the look of confusion she would see on her fathers face if it wasn’t shielded behind the Iron Man faceplate.

“I’m Spider-Man, by the way,” the costumed man offered. “Huge fan, Mr Iron Man, sir.”

“Jesus how old are you?” Rori asked, swinging around to look at her saviour.

“Aaaah,” was the only response she got in reply. “I gotta go, glad you’re safe.”

Before he even finished speaking, she watched in awe as he shot some kind of rope from his hand and used it to pull himself off the ground and swing away and out of sight.

“What the fuck?” Rori mumbled, turning back to her father to see the faceplate retract.

“Did he hurt you?” Tony asked, concern clear in the set of his brow.

“No, I’m ok,” she promised as he grabbed her around the waist and took off for the tower. They arrived on the balcony a minute later and Tony placed his daughter back on her feet as the suit begin to recede from his body.

“What happened?” he asked, following her into the kitchen and watching as she set about making a cup of tea to settle her nerves, shaking his head when she gestured to a second mug. She explained as the kettle boiled and then took a seat at the island bench, her mug clutched in her hands. “What were you thinking walking home on your own this late?”

“I know,” Rori mumbled. “I know it was stupid. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Tony said softly. “I’m just glad nothing happened. Although I can tell you right now, tomorrow I’m gonna find out who this Spider-Man is because if he’s gonna be out there doing the crime fighting thing he’s gonna need a real suit and back up or he’s gonna get himself killed.”

True to his word, Tony did find Spider-Man and after showing up unannounced at Peter Parkers front door 2 days later, he invited the teenager to the tower.


	14. New York 2014 (part two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's another series of fake Instagram posts for this chapter  
> Check out the masterlist over on my tumblr   
> https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist

When Peter first came to the tower, he was nervous and skittish around the Avengers, something that Aurora could both a sympathise and empathise with, having experienced the same emotions herself. She made an effort to chat with Peter whenever he came over and he quickly became more comfortable once he got into the lab with Tony and the pair started working on his new and improved suit, which was leaps and bounds beyond the sweatpants and hoodie he had been wearing on patrols. The two spent many late hours in the lab and after a few nights, Steve and Rori started to join them, setting themselves up on the sofa, Steve with his sketchpad and Rori with her laptop full of college essays. The four of them found comfort in spending time together, even while they were all absorbed in their own activities.

xXx

Aurora and Tony were sitting in the living room watching TV on a late April afternoon when JARVIS announced that Mark was on his way up to the penthouse. Rori reached for her phone, finding it between the couch cushions and wincing at the notifications stacking up on her lock screen. “This can’t be good,” she said as her manager emerged from the lift.

“How is it that your phone is permanently attached to your hand, but you never answer my calls?” he asked, walking straight over to them and sitting down on the sofa.

“It was on silent and we’re in the middle of binging Community,” Rori replied somewhat defensively, still scrolling through the notifications. “Do I even want to know what’s happening?”

“You and Harry might want to discuss getting out in front of the dating rumours,” he told her, holding out his phone to show her a tweet thread from one of Harry’s fans.

**> Harry_is_Life: Ok I might be stretching here but hear me out. Anyone remember those photos of @Harry_Styles & @AuroraStark from the AMAs afterparty? 1/?**

**> Harry_is_Life: and then the Starks spent New Years in London and Harry was papped in Wimbledon which is where Rori grew up and between NYE… 2/?**

**> Harry_is_Life: & the start of tour Harry was seen flying into JFK atleast 4 times + they’ve both been liking each other’s tweets/Instagram posts A LOT… 3/?**

**> Harry_is_Life: So what if @Harry_Styles & @AuroraStark are secretly dating? #Harrora? I know a lot of people will hate this but I think they’d be cute together 4/4**

“I guess this was inevitable,” Rori sighed as she scrolled through the responses with Tony reading over her shoulder. The reaction to the theory was mixed; some fans agreed, others thought there was a collab in the works or that Rori would be supporting the boys on the American leg of their current tour, and still others thought it was laughable and that she was too ugly and talentless to be dating Harry. “What do you suggest?”

“Personally, I’d get out ahead of it with a post on social media, but you should talk to Harry,” Mark said. “Their management have dealt with this countless times and I’m sure they’ve got a system in place and a way they like to handle these things.”

Aurora nodded in agreement. “Did you read all the responses?” she asked him.

“Yeah I did. Some of those girls are absolutely vicious.”

“When you idolise someone like that, no one will ever be good enough for them,” Rori attempted to rationalise the hate already directed towards her. “Especially when you’re in love with him.”

“That doesn’t make what they’re saying ok,” Tony said, already itching to respond to some of the nastier comments but knowing that would make things so much worse.

“You ready to deal with all of that?” Mark asked.

“Probably not,” Rori said. “But he’s worth it. I like who I am with him. I don’t have to worry that he’s only with me because of my name, he’d feel the same way about Aurora Bennett as he does about Aurora Stark.”

“I’m glad you’re happy,” Mark admitted. “You deserve it.”

Tony nodded his agreement, placing his arm around his daughter and pulling her against his side.

“Thanks Mark,” Rori replied. “What about you? When are you gonna find someone?”

“God you sound like my mother,” Mark sighed, causing Rori and Tony to chuckle. “I’ll tell you what I tell her; I’m a 27 year gay man, I’m in no rush to settle down.”

“Just as long as you don’t forget to have a life of your own while your managing mine.”

xXx

After Mark left, Aurora headed to her room, already dialling Harry’s number as she swung the door closed behind her and threw herself onto her bed.

“So, I just saw twitter,” she said in lieu of a greeting.

“Yeah Me too,” Harry replied softly.

“What do we do?” she asked.

“I just got off the phone with our management and they think we should wait,” Harry said. “It’s just a twitter theory and it’ll probably blow over.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Rori agreed. “We’ll have to say something before I join you on tour soon.”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe when you arrive before the show in London, we can both post a photo of us together and just confirm it on social media?”

“I like that idea,” Rori smiled. “Sounds like a plan.”

“I’m sorry this is all so complicated,” he sighed, and she could imagine the pout on his lips.

“Don’t apologize. I’d be dealing with twitter rumours no matter who the internet thought I was dating,” she promised.

“You know sometimes I’m really glad that you get all of this. I’m not sure how I’d deal with this otherwise.”

“I feel the same Harry, I think I’d always wonder if it was me or my name if I was with someone normal.”

“And worry if I was ruining their lives by pulling them into the spotlight,” Harry added.

“Exactly,” Rori said, letting out a deep sigh. “Good thing neither of us are normal.”

Harry offered a small chuckle in response to her attempt to lighten the mood. “Normal’s overrated,” he said.

They fell silent for a moment, sitting in their shared confessions for a beat before Rori spoke again. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too. Can’t wait for you to be back here. My family is excited to meet you. My mum won’t stop talking about it.”

“I’m excited to meet them too. I hope they like me,” she admitted.

“They’ll love ya,” he promised.

“I love you, Harry,” Rori said instead of replying.

“I love you too,” he said.

xXx

Aurora had to silence her social media notifications for the rest of the week as fans kept speculating about whether or not she and Harry were together. While neither Harry nor Aurora replied to the rumours, they eventually died down after Ella posted on Instagram in an attempt to divert the story away from the pair. The photo was of the two girls from when their mothers had taken them to the X Factor finale in 2010. She had mentioned in the caption that Rori’s favourite One Direction member had always been Liam and most of the fans had taken this to mean that Rori wasn’t even that big of a Harry fan so it was more likely that Aurora was going to support the band on tour or was writing for their next album. Only the most determined fans continued to theorise about their relationship, however Harry was the one to get the most out of the post, calling Aurora has soon as he saw it.

“LIAM?” he yelled when she’d answered the phone. “Liam was your favourite? I’m wounded.”

“Stop it Harry,” Rori had laughed, her face bright red in embarrassment. “I was 15!”

“I’m so glad you have better taste now,” he joked.

“I’m your biggest fan now,” she promised.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. See you in 6 weeks,” she said.

“Study hard. Goodluck with your exams.”


	15. Rori in Manchester: May 2014

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are going to be some Instagram posts for this chapter but I'm going to combine them with the ones for the next chapter so once that one is posted I'll put up the Instagram posts to avoid spoilers :)
> 
> Feel free to check out the previous Instagram posts and Rori's Spotify playlists, or just come have a chat to me on Tumblr https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist

**◊Harry:** **good luck with your final exam this afternoon. I know you’re gonna crush it, love. H**

Aurora smirked at her phone as she read Harry’s text. She had actually finished her exams two days ago but had told Harry that she had one more today which is why she couldn’t make it back to the UK in time for the bands Manchester shows. He’d floated the idea months earlier, wanting her to meet his mum, stepfather and his sister. When she’d told him that her exams didn’t finish in time for her to make it to the show, they had made a new plan for his family to travel down to London for the shows the following week and Aurora would fly in to meet them before joining the band on the European leg of the tour. Unbeknown to Harry, Aurora was currently at the airport, waiting for the StarkJet to depart for Manchester airport. She would arrive on the day of the first of two shows in Harry’s home city and she was excited to surprise her boyfriend and finally meet his family.

Once the jet finally touched down at the airport, Aurora took a cab to the stadium. Before she climbed out of the cab, she quickly pulled her long dark hair back in 2 braids, covering her eyes with a large pair of sunglasses and tugging a baseball cap down low over her brow. She joined the queue forming outside the venue, chatting with some of the fans already in line, smirking when none of them realised who she was at first. Eventually a few of those standing closest to her in the line recognised her but she shushed them and swore them to secrecy. “I just want to experience the show like any other fan,” she told them. “If you want, we can take some selfies together, but could you wait until tomorrow to post them?” They’d agreed and she had enjoyed spending the majority of the day chatting away with them while they waited. When the doors finally opened, Aurora ran with her new friends into the venue, staking out their position against the barricade next to the catwalk section of the stage about halfway along. Once the lights dimmed for the start of the show, Rori finally took off her baseball cap and pulled her hair out of the braids, combing her fingers through them and tossing her hair back over her shoulders.

Aurora was euphoric as she felt the energy of the crowd surrounding her and the music blasting from the speakers. The entire stadium felt electrified and she felt a grin splitting her face apart as she screamed along to the song. In that moment she felt as if she had been transported back in time, she was suddenly the 15 year old standing in the crowd of the X Factor live tour with her best friend and their mums, screaming along to the same 5 boys, only now she was 19 and it was no longer Liam that held her attention. She hadn’t been able to look away from Harry since the moment he’d stepped out on stage and her heart soared to see the pure joy on his face as he danced across the stage with his 4 best friends, his brothers, singing his heart out to the sold out Manchester crowd.

As the final notes of _Rock Me_ played out she took a deep breath, running her fingers through her hair to push it back out of her face as sweat beaded across her body from the dancing and the swelling crowd surrounding her. She was leaning against the barrier and looked up with a goofy grin, watching Harry and the other boys walking back towards where she was standing as Niall spoke to the screaming girls about the upcoming song. By some stroke of luck, as Harry took a seat on the central apparatus built into the stage he looked out over the crowd and spotted her standing only a few metres in front of him, freezing in place in shock as their eyes locked. The girls around her started screaming hysterically in response to his stare and she shot him a cheeky grin and a little wave that caused a huge grin to break out across his face, exposing his dimples. _‘What are you doing here?’_ he mouthed, to which she replied by shouting back a joyful, “Surprise!”

He shook his head in bafflement, blowing her a kiss as the music began to swell and Liam sang the first lines of _Don’t Forget Where You Belong_. His eyes kept returning to hers as the song continued and every time he saw her singing back at him, his smile grew impossibly bigger. At the end of the song they once again locked eyes and he mouthed the words _‘I love you’_.

The concert continued on with Rori having an incredible time, letting herself pretend she was just another fan in the crowd, screaming along to her favourite songs, but every so often when he passed by her section of the crowd, Harry’s smile would grow and he would throw a wink or blow a kiss in her direction, causing those around her to meltdown and swoon at their idol. Half a dozen songs after he first spotted her, all 5 boys returned to the raised section of staging and Harry sat himself down directly in front of her, with Niall sitting to his left with his guitar. The young couple locked eyes as Zayn sang the opening lines of _Little Things_. Aurora’s eyes grew damp with unshed tears while Harry sang out, “You’re perfect to me,” as he stared into her eyes and the tears spilled down her cheeks as she sang back along with him, “I’m in love with you and all these little things.”

It was much later in the concert, towards the end, when things changed. The smiles, winks and kisses that Harry had been directing towards his girlfriend all night had the fans surrounding her riled up into such a frenzy that during _Story of My Life_ they all began to push forwards towards the stage, causing those against the barriers to become crushed against the metal. Louis noticed the problem moments before the nearest security guard, immediately signalling to the band to cut the music and drawing the security teams’ attention. “Is everyone alright down there?” he asked, his accent thickening with his concern for the fans. The other boys turned towards Louis trying to catch up to what was happening, and the moment Harry noticed that Louis was standing in front of Aurora’s section of the crowd he sprinted across the stage towards her, panic clear on his face. By the time he reached Louis’ side, the security guards had already managed to pull several of the girls over the barriers and Louis was instructing the fans behind to calm down and stop pressing forward. Rori quickly joined the few fans standing between the barriers and the stage and as soon as she was out of the crush she looked up to find Harry crouching down on the side of the stage in an attempt to get closer to her without leaving the stage and causing a bigger crush from the crowd. “Are you alright?” he yelled in concern, visibly relaxing when she nodded and smiled reassuringly back. He stayed kneeling at the edge of the stage until the situation had been sorted and just before Rori was ushered away to a different part of the crowd, Harry signalled to the guard by her side to wait. By the time he jumped down from the stage, a camera had already been tracking the situation and a large percentage of the crowd was already aware that the girl with the black hair was in fact Aurora Stark, so when Harry swept her into his arms the crowd around them erupted into screams with the confirmation of the rumours that the two were dating. He turned to the waiting guard as they pulled apart, insisting that he make sure she was taken backstage to watch the remainder of the show in safety before he quickly climbed back on to the stage.

After the show, Harry rushed to his girlfriend's side, pulling Aurora into a hug and spinning her around as soon as he reached her. “I can’t believe you’re here,” he yelled excitedly. “I thought I wasn’t going to see you for another week.”

“Surprise,” she giggled, gripping his face in her hands and kissing him deeply. “I missed you.”

“God, I missed you,” Harry sighed. “OMG are you ok?” he gasped suddenly remembering the crush in the crowd.

“I’m fine,” Rori assured him. “Although I feel bad about the rest of the fans that caught up in it all though. It was kind of stupid, now that I think about it.”

“But very romantic,” Harry said. “Everyone’s allowed to make mistakes. I’ll check with security in a minute and make sure everyone’s ok.”

“The secrets out about us now I guess,” she murmured. “Sorry.”

“Never apologize,” Harry replied. “This was a wonderful surprise and we were going to announce it next week anyway so who cares. I’m just glad you’re here.”

xXx

Aurora’s knee bounced nervously as the van pulled up out the front of Harry’s family home. He reached across to place a comforting hand on her thigh, stilling the anxious movement. “Just be yourself,” he whispered in her ear as the other boys climbed out of the van. “They’ll love you; I promise.”

The couple climbed out of the car, joining the other 4 boys as they walked towards the front door of the house. Harry squeezed his girlfriends’ hand in his while Liam knocked on the door. Anne threw open the door with a wide smile, welcoming the boys into her home. Harry bounded forward, sweeping his mother into a bruising hug. “So good to have you home, love,” she murmured into her sons’ curls.

“Brought someone to meet you,” he said, pulling back from the hug and Anne’s eyes widen as he reached back, taking Aurora’s hand and pulling her to his side.

“Aurora. I thought we wouldn’t be seeing you until next week in London,” Anne said in surprise before hugging the young woman warmly. “It’s so lovely to have you here. Come on in.”

Harry threw a smirk towards his girlfriend, his expression clearly saying, ‘ _I told you so_ ’. She rolled her eyes in response, following Anne into the front sitting room where the rest of the band was already crowded onto the sofas with Gemma and Robin joining them.

“How about I chuck the kettle on?” Anne asked the room. “Who wants a cuppa?”

“I’ll come give you a hand,” Rori offered, earning her a smile from Harry. He kissed her cheek before heading over to hug his stepfather and then throwing himself onto the sofa beside his sister. Rori followed Anne into the kitchen and watched as the older woman filled the kettle under the tap and then put in on to boil. 

“I take it you surprised Harry by flying in a week early?” Anne asked once she turned away from her task. “I’m sure he was thrilled.”

“He was,” Rori said with a smile. “I couldn’t wait to get here.”

“I’m glad you are. He’s told me a lot about you. Hasn’t shut up about you really.”

Rori’s eyes widened and Anne chuckled. “I’m sure you already know this but he’s quite fond of you, love. You’ve made quite the impression.”

“I’m pretty fond of him too,” Rori admitted. “You raised an incredible man.” 

“Thank you but trust me, he made it easy for me.”

“I was nervous to meet you,” Aurora admitted with a small chuckle. “I should have known you’d be so welcoming.”

“From everything Harry’s told us, I knew that you’d be a wonderful woman,” Anne said. “We’re excited to have you join the family.”

“Thought I’d come make sure everyone was playing nicely together,” Harry interrupted with a cheeky grin. He crossed the kitchen quickly, stopping behind Aurora and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. 

“I was just about to tell Aurora here all of your most embarrassing childhood moments,” Anne told her son, laughing loudly when he replied with a groan and hid his face in Aurora’s shoulder.

“Not to mention all the baby photos I need to see,” Rori joked, grinning widely at Anne as Harry complained about bullying.

They stayed at the Twist house for the rest of the afternoon before the boys headed back to the city for soundcheck and preshow preparations. Aurora stayed behind after Anne and Robin offered to give her lift when they headed in for the show later in the day. Despite only having spent a few hours with Anne, Robin and Gemma, Aurora found herself fitting into the family dynamic easily. She hadn’t realised how starved she had been for a maternal figure in her life until Anne had welcomed her with open arms. Her own mother had only been gone for 3 and a half years, and while no one would ever replace Louise, Aurora found herself comforted by Anne’s presence.

When they arrived at the arena that evening, they were escorted backstage and found the boys in the green room. Harry was quickly at her side as soon as they entered, his dimples flashing. “How was the rest of your afternoon, love?” he murmured in her ear, wrapping his arms tightly around her torso.

“It was great,” she said. “I love your family.”

“Knew you would,” he replied.

Unlike the previous night’s show, Aurora watched the second show from the side of stage with the rest of Harry’s family, dancing with Gemma to their favourite tracks. Following the show, Harry and Aurora headed back to the hotel with the rest of the boys and in the morning Rori joined the band as they travelled north for a midweek show in Edinburgh before heading to London for 3 shows at Wembley.


	16. The Winter Soldier & Where We Are: Summer 2014

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains the events of Captain America: Winter Soldier which you can assume happens in this story the same as in cannon, and since the movies never address why the other avengers didn’t come help Steve and Nat out then I won't give it a lot of effort. We're just gonna go with Steve asked him not to get involved. I don’t know, don’t think about it too much.

The last London show was on a Sunday night. Aurora met up with Ella and her mum Rebecca in the afternoon for lunch before taking them with her to Wembley Stadium. She showed her pass to the security guards at the side entrance and Ella was bouncing on her toes in excitement by the time they reached the green room about an hour and a half before the start of the show.

“There you are love,” Harry greeted, walking over to Rori’s side and pulling her against him in a warm embrace. “Hi Ella,” he added, “Rebecca. Good to see you ladies again.”

“You too,” Ella stammered, before Aurora took pity on her best friend and took her around the room, introducing her to everyone and helping to smooth out the awkwardness. While they were all sat around in the green room, Aurora tucked into Harry’s side as he talked with Zayn, her phone chirped and she fished it out of her pocket to see a text from Mark.

**◊Mark: Great news. I followed up on that list of potential YouTube collaborators you gave me a few months back and I got some people interested.**

**◊Aurora: OMG…. WHO?!**

**◊Mark: At this stage, Boyce Avenue and Our Last Night. Both interested in doing 2 covers, 1 for your channel and 1 for theirs and they’re all keen to get working on it as soon as you’re finished with the tour.**

**◊Aurora: THAT’S INSANE! We’ve got some time between the end of Europe and the start of North America at the end of July.**

**◊Mark: How about I get one of them sorted out for that window and then you could get the other in at the end of tour, depending on what your class schedule is?**

**◊Aurora: Sounds perfect. If they can come to NYC, we can work in my home studio. I’ve only got three days of classes this semester so I don’t think that would be hugely problematic to work around.**

**◊Mark: I can sort that out. When are you back from the tour and when do classes start up again?**

**◊Aurora: Last show is Chicago on August 30 th. My first class is on the 3rd. **

**◊Mark: Leave it with me**

“What’s got you grinning?” Harry asked, taking in the excitement lighting up her face.

“Boyce Avenue and Our Last Night want to collab with me,” she explained.

“Should either of those names mean anything to me?” Harry asked with a chuckle.

“Huge bands on YouTube,” Rori explained. “I think Boyce Avenue have about 5 and half million subscribers. To work with either of them makes a real statement on the platform.”

“Congratulations then,” Harry said, smiling widely.

Aurora and Ella watched the show that night from the VIP section at the front of the floor section of the crowd and danced like idiots, laughing and singing along to every song. At end of the night Aurora and Harry made their way back to Harry’s North London home to spend the rest of the week before the European leg of the tour began in Stockholm the following weekend. They spent most of Monday in bed together before finally getting ready and heading south to Wimbledon to have dinner with Greg and Helen at the Golden Stag.

xXx

Halfway through the week, while they were cuddled together on the sofa, watching a movie, Rori’s phone began blowing up with notifications.

“Holy Shit!” she said, pulling Harry’s attention away from the romcom on the screen.

“What’s wrong,” he asked, he’s brow furrowing.

“Director Fury’s dead and Pops and Aunt Nat have just been declared enemies of the state.”

“I’m sorry, they’ve what now?”

“You heard me Harry,” Rori snapped. “SHIELD has put out alerts all over the place, calling for their arrest. This doesn’t make any sense. JARVIS what’s going on?” she asked the AI her father had built into her phone.

“It appears that the Captain and Agent Romanov have been listed as enemies of the state.”

“Yeah, I know J, I already saw that online. I’m looking for more specifics.”

“It appears that SHIELD has classified them both as fugitives and they are wanted on charges of domestic terrorism and espionage.”

“Can you get Pops on the phone for me please?” Aurora requested, already chewing on her thumbnail as she continued scrolling through twitter nervously.

“I am unable to reach him at this time,” JARVIS informed her after a brief moment of silence. “He seems to have completely disconnected from any technological mainframe, as has Agent Romanov.”

Aurora paused, trying to piece everything together. Harry watched her silently from beside her on the sofa. “Get me dad on the phone, J.” Harry reached out, taking her hand in his and giving a gentle squeeze as the phone rang.

“Hey kiddo,” Tony greeted once he answered the call.

“What the fuck is happening?” Rori asked her father, receiving a heavy sigh in response. “I’m looking at everything online and JARVIS is saying they’ve gone completely off the grid.”

“I have no idea sweetheart,” Tony replied. “Your pops sent me a message that they’re safe and he said they’ve got it under control, and that I shouldn’t head down there. I can’t reach him now, but it’s gonna be ok Kiddo.”

“What was he even doing in Washington?”

“He went down there to run a few ops with Nat over the summer. She’s got his back, so we’ve just got to trust that he knows what he’s doing. He’ll be fine.” Aurora could tell that Tony didn’t really believe the words that he was saying, and she didn’t believe them either but they both silently agreed to keep pretending they did. If either of them allowed themselves to truly worry about Steve, they knew that they would crumble. For now, fake confidence would have to get them through. “I love you Rori,” Tony added.

“I love you too dad,” she replied.

Harry spent the rest of the night trying to distract Aurora from the agonising wait. They had spent an hour on news sites after Tony ended the phone call, but eventually she had accepted that no one really knew what was happening and much of the so-called news was lies and propaganda against her Pops. When they finally turned in for the night and were lying in each other’s arms in bed, Harry felt her trembling against his chest.

“What if I lose him?” she whispered into the darkness. “I can’t lose another parent, Harry. I can’t.”

“That’s not gonna happen, love,” Harry whispered back. “He’s Captain America, he’ll be fine.”

“You can’t know that,” Rori sobbed, burying her face into his chest as she cried. There was nothing he could say to sooth her anxiety, so he simply held her until she cried herself out and fell asleep, exhausted.

xXx

“Babe, I think you need to get your dad on the phone,” Harry said the next day, looking up from his phone to stare at Aurora. “SHIELD headquarters in DC was just destroyed.”

“What?” Rori gasped. “How? What happened?”

“Doesn’t look like anyone is really sure, but I think it’s safe to assume it was Steve and Nat. Apparently 3 helicarriers were crashed into the ground.” Harry continued to scroll as he spoke, searching for more information as Rori frantically pulled her own phone from her pocket and dialled her father’s number. “Oh God,” he gasped suddenly, causing her head to snap towards him as the dial tone filled her ear. “Your dad was pulled from the river unconscious; he’s been taken to a nearby hospital.”

Before Aurora could reply, her father finally answered his phone. “He’s ok kiddo,” Tony promised his daughter. “I just got to DC and he’s gonna be just fine.”

“What the hell happened?” Aurora asked, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks, causing Harry to rush to her side and pull her into his arms.

“Hydra infiltrated SHIELD and they’ve been pulling the strings since the beginning,” Tony explained. “Steve figured it out and they tried to kill him for it, but you know your Pops, he’s too stubborn so now Hydras done.”

“Is he there with you?” Aurora asked, “Can I talk to him?”

“He’s sleeping kiddo, but we’ll call you when he’s up ok?”

“I love you dad.”

“Love you too, Rors.”

xXx

Steve and Tony called back later that night. It took Steve over an hour to convince her that he would be absolutely fine, and in a few days all his injuries would be completely healed thanks to the serum. “I think I should come home,” she said at one point of the conversation. 

“Absolutely not,” Steve replied. “You’ve been looking forward to this summer for months now. Go enjoy yourself. You deserve to spend some time with Harry and to get out there and see the world. Besides we’re not gonna be home much.”

“Why not? Where are you going?”

“Your pops and I are gonna go track down his old friend Barnes,” Tony explained.

“The assassin that just tried to kill you?” Aurora said with a shocked gasp. “Are you insane?”

“He was brainwashed by Hydra but he’s breaking out of it,” Steve replied, “and besides I’ve got your dad for backup this time.”

“I swear if either of you get yourselves hurt; I’ll never forgive you.”

“We love you too bug,” Steve chuckled softly.

xXx

Following her parents advise, Aurora tried to put any thoughts of Hydra or Sergeant Barnes out her mind and enjoy her summer, so at the end of the week, she and Harry flew to Sweden as planned for the European leg of the tour. July saw them take in so many cities across Europe that Aurora had never visited before and she went out exploring as much as she could while Harry and the boys were rehearsing. Harry tried to join her whenever possible, but the fans made it difficult for any of the boys to take in the usual tourist attractions and Aurora found herself very grateful that while she was recognised every so often, most people didn’t know who she was and for the most part the fans didn’t really care who she was. After Sweden they had travelled through Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. They left Europe in mid-July and with 2 weeks off before the North American leg began at the start of August, most of the band headed off to see family while Harry joined Aurora in LA.


	17. The North American tour & YouTube Collabs

Aurora was nervous when she entered the recording studio in North Hollywood. Mark had sent her the address the previous week and told her that the four members of Our Last Night would be expecting her at 9am, so there she was walking through the front door, with Harry’s supportive hand on her lower back.

“Aurora?”

“Yes, Hi,” she replied, reaching her hand out to shake the one offered to her by the tall brunette standing in front of her. “It’s great to finally meet you, Matt. Thanks for having me.”

“Great to meet you too. We were all stoked when your manager reached out. Thanks again for flying out here.”

“Not at all,” Rori said. “This is my partner, Harry by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Harry. Everyone else is back this way.”

They followed Matt further into the building, finding the other members of his band sitting around the studio space. Introductions were made and the rest of the day was spent working on the arrangements for the 2 songs they had already decided on covering. They had been emailing back and forth for much of the last week and the band had already done much of the work, so it was simply a matter of putting the final touches to the instrumentals and by the end of the first day they were ready to start recording. The band invited Aurora and Harry back to Trevor’s house for dinner and they gladly accepted, already enjoying the company of the 4 men. Aurora spent most of the evening with Trevor’s 1 year old perched on her lap until the baby was put to bed. They didn’t stay too late and made plans to meet back in the studio earlier the next morning. Over the next few days they recorded the instrumental tracks for both covers, leaving only the vocal tracks left to lay down for their covers of the Chainsmokers _All We Know,_ and Charlie Puth’s _We Don’t Talk Anymore_.

At the end of her first week in LA, Aurora, Trevor and Matthew all took their turn in the recording booth to lay down the vocals for each track and then they decided to take the weekend off before returning Monday morning to film the music videos.

Harry felt that Malibu was the perfect place to spend the weekend, renting a beach house for the pair and Aurora spent the days lounging beside the pool and soaking up as much sun as she could. Given their usually hectic schedules, the young couple revelled in the free time. The opportunity to waste away hours by the pool, without the constant demands to be somewhere or do something was intoxicating. Harry was happy to set himself up on a banana lounge with a book and a glass of red wine, enjoying the relaxing sounds of the nearby waves and the view of his beautiful girlfriend laying nearby in a bikini. Likewise, Aurora was also enjoying the calming sound of the waves, and would cheekily request that Harry refill her drink, if only to watch him walking around in a pair of boardshorts slung low on his hips and nothing else. Before long, their mini vacation was at an end and Aurora headed back into the studio, spending three days filming the 2 covers and then helping with the beginnings of the editing process. After what felt like no time at all, the pair said goodbye to their new friends with promises to catch up again in the future before heading to LAX to fly up to Toronto for Harry to start the next leg of the bands tour. By the time they returned to the States on Monday, the two covers were posted on both Aurora’s channel and Our Last Nights, much to their fan’s excitement and praise.

xXx

Despite being so close to her home across the river, Aurora didn’t visit while she was in New Jersey with the band and instead Tony came to see her. He was beyond excited when he pulled her into a tight embrace, lifting her feet off the ground as he swung her around.

“Missed you,” he murmured in her ear as he set her back on her feet.

“Missed you too,” Rori replied, “and Pops.”

“He wanted to come,” Tony said, “But things are a bit crazy back home.”

“How is Sergeant Barnes doing?” Aurora asked, leading her dad down the hallways towards the green room.

“Yeah, he’s getting there,” Tony answered. “He was still a bit confused when we finally tracked him down but he’s already getting better. I mean don’t get me wrong, he’s got a long way to go but he’s been doing really well in therapy so it’s just a matter of time really.”

“I was talking to Pops on the phone the other night and he seems really excited to be getting his friend back.”

“He is, I just don’t want him to get his hopes up too much. Barnes has been through so much that I’m not sure he’ll ever be his old self again.”

“I can’t imagine what he’s gone through,” Aurora agreed. “But at least he’s out of it now.”

“You’re right,” her father agreed. “I’ve been working on fixing his prosthetic lately. The one Hydra made for him was a mess. They clearly didn’t care whether it was causing him any pain, so hopefully I can ease that for him with some modifications.”

“Well there’s no one better to work on it than you, dad,” Aurora smirked. “You got Peter helping you on it?”

“I couldn’t stop him if I tried,” Tony laughed. “The kid is having the time of his life.”

The pair spent the rest of the afternoon catching each other up on the last month and simply revelling in being together after weeks apart.

Following the New Jersey shows, Aurora and the band travelled down to Massachusetts, and then on to Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri and finally Illinois. Along the way Aurora continued heading out exploring whatever city they found themselves in while the boys worked, and she would often find herself sitting in on writing sessions for the next album. Harry would often run lyrics by her, asking for her input and she found that Liam and Louis’ writing style was similar to her own which led to her often joining the two as they threw around ideas. By the time they reached Chicago at the end of August, most of the album had been written, if not recorded in full ready for its November release.

Following the last show in Chicago, the band had a week and a half break before continuing the tour in California, so Harry joined Aurora on her flight back to New York on the Sunday afternoon of the last day of August.

xXx

Aurora wasn’t at all surprised by the surprise party that she walked into when she stepped out of the lift and into the penthouse with Harry by her side. The scene that greeted her was so perfectly Tony, that she felt herself grinning widely. There was a banner strung across the living room that read; **‘WELCOME HOME RORI’** with a small crowd of her friends and family assembled underneath it. The crowd included the Avengers, Pepper and Happy, Peter and May, her parents and two new faces; one of which she recognised from photos to be Bucky Barnes, while the other she assumed to be the newest recruit to the team, Sam Wilson. Rori quickly found herself sandwiched between both of her fathers as they threw their arms around her, crushing her in a warm group hug. She laughed as they finally let her go. “I missed you too,” she chuckled, allowing them to lead her further into the room to be passed from one hug to the next as everyone took their turn to welcome her home.

A few hours later, full to bursting from the Chinese takeout Tony had ordered from her favourite place, Aurora was curled up against Harry’s side on the large sofa. Steve brought Bucky over to sit on the sofa opposite the young couple, introducing his daughter to his oldest friend. She smiled softly at him, unsure what to say. She could see the excitement on her Pop’s face to be introducing his best friend from the 1940s but the person she saw before her was also a Hydra assassin who had killed more people than she could comprehend.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Bucky murmured. “Stevie hasn’t really shut up about you.”

“He’s told me a lot about you too,” Rori replied, a soft smile lifting the corners of her lips as she glanced over at her step-father. “That was before he knew you were still alive though.”

“It’s crazy that either of us here now,” Bucky admitted. They continued to talk idly until Steve walked over to the kitchen to refill his and Rori’s drinks. The moment he was out of earshot, Bucky looked between Rori and Harry with a nervous glance. “I understand that you’re both concerned,” he said. “I am too, but I promise you that I’m not a threat.”

“We don’t think you’re a threat,” Harry replied.

“Don’t we?” Rori asked him. “I’m not going to say anything in front of Pops because he deserves this, but I don’t trust you Bucky. Maybe I will someday but not yet.”

“Steve said you were smart,” Bucky replied, seemingly unaffected by Auroras blunt words. “Glad to see he was right. I don’t trust myself completely either but we’re working on it. I’m doing therapy to help with the brainwashing and your dad is fixing my arm. I’ll earn your trust.”

“Yes, you will,” Rori agreed with a genuine smile, dropping the conversation as Steve returned with Sam in tow. “Welcome to the madhouse, Sam.”

“Thanks Aurora,” the newest Avenger replied. “Not sure what I’ve gotten myself into with this one,” he gestured towards Steve, who rolled his eyes. “Should be good fun though.”

“It’s certainly never boring,” Harry joked.

Shortly before midnight, when almost everyone had left for the night, only Nat, Clint and Bruce remained in the living room of the penthouse with the Stark-Rogers family and Harry. After refilling his drink in the kitchen, Tony walked past where Rori was sitting, lifting her wine glass to her lips to take a sip. “What is that on your wrist?” he asked, pulling his daughters attention away from a conversation she was having with Bruce. She paused for a brief moment before following Tony’s eyes to the inside of her left wrist.

“It’s a tattoo,” she replied, holding her arm out so that he could see the fresh ink clearer. “Pretty cool, right? I got it about 2 weeks ago.” The image on the inside of her wrist was of half of Steve’s shield and the right half of the Iron Man helmet, joined together in the middle. “Harry, Louis and I went to this great little tattoo parlour in Philly.”

“It’s nice,” Tony said. “Did you draw it up yourself?” Aurora nodded that she had, tracing her index finger over the ink, smiling at the memory of sitting in the tattoo studio with the two boys, Louis laughing at her as she winced when some of the heavy shading was done.

“I’m already planning the next one,” she told her father. “It really is addictive.”

Tony shot a joking glare towards Harry where he sat with Nat and Clint nearby. “You’ve got a lot to answer for,” he told the younger man.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Harry laughed, raising his hands in mock defence. “She cooked up the idea with Lou and they’d decided they were going long before I invited myself. I was just tagging along and figured I’d get something done while we were there.”

“A likely story,” Tony laughed. “So, what’s the next one?” he asked, turning his attention away from Harry and back to his daughter.

“I wanna get a yellow cab on my ribs,” Aurora explained. “Big Yellow Taxi was mum’s favourite song, so I want to be a walking cliché and put it near my heart.”

“You’re not going to start building a sleeve like Harry’s next, are you?” Steve asked, joining the conversation and sitting down next to Aurora on the sofa.

“No,” Rori promised. “But I think I’ll definitely get a couple more. I really love the idea of having my art permanently a part of me.”

xXx

Harrys stayed for the rest of the week, enjoying spending time with Rori without the pressure and constant scheduling of being on tour. He also enjoyed spending time with her family. He would sit with Rori while she sketched on the sofa in Tony’s workshop, watching her father and Peter working away on whatever project had their attention at any given moment. He’d chat with Rori while she drew, her feet perched in his lap and one of his hands resting softly on her thigh. Sometimes she’d be sketching Tony and Peter, sometimes it was Harry and sometimes it was a landscape she could see only in her mind. They reminisced about the tour, recounting the funnier stories for Peter who lapped it all up eagerly. Every morning the couple would head downstairs to the gym, where Rori would run on the treadmill and Harry would use the weights. Steve would join them most mornings and there were always other members of the team floating in and out of the space. On the Wednesday, Rori started back at Columbia and Harry caught the subway with her, wandering the campus and grabbing a coffee at one of the small cafes while she attended her two classes for the day. When she was finished, the pair walked back to the tower through Central Park, taking their time in the autumn sunshine. Eventually Harry had to leave for California, and while Aurora tried to pretend she wasn’t upset to see him go, she lasted only until he was standing in front of the lift with his bag slung over his shoulder. Happy was waiting with the car downstairs and they had agreed to say their goodbyes in private, both knowing that if Aurora went to the airport with Harry, they would be on every gossip blog by morning.

“I’ll see you at Christmas,” Harry promised. Aurora nodded, swallowing thickly against the emotion building in her throat. “Come here,” he said, pulling her against him as the tears welled up and flowed down her cheeks.

“I got so used to see you every day,” she admitted, her face pressed into his neck. “I don’t want to say goodbye.”

“I don’t want to go either,” Harry said, “but you’ve got school and I’ve got the tour to finish. It’ll be December before we know it.”

“I love you,” she told him, pulling her face back from his neck to look into his eyes.

“I love you too,” he promised, leaning forward to lock their lips together.

“Sorry to interrupt,” JARVIS said, “But Mr Styles will need to leave now if he does not wish to miss his flight.”

“I’ll call you when I land,” Harry said, pecking her lips one last time before stepping into the waiting elevator car. As the doors slid closed, she stared at them for a few long minutes before turning towards the living room and throwing herself onto the sofa, her face buried into the cushions. Tony found her there half an hour later and sat down next to her hip, rubbing a handing down her back.

“Harry get away alright?” he asked to which Rori nodded, her face still pressed into the fabric below her. “You wanna watch a shitty movie and eat crap food that will make Steve disappointed in both of us?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled, finally sitting up and allowing her father to crush her in a tight embrace.

xXx

Two weeks after Harry returned to the tour, Aurora was sitting at the large dining table with every member of the Avengers team present. They were halfway through the meal before Clint finally snapped, asking the question on everyone’s mind. “Rori are you gonna tell us why you made such a big deal about everyone having dinner tonight?”

Aurora looked up from her plate, glancing around the table to see everyone’s eyes on her, expectant. “Uhhhh,” she mumbled. “I just wanted to talk to you all at the same time, so I didn’t have to repeat myself.”

“You’re not pregnant, are you?” Clint asked, causing both Tony and Steve’s heads to snap towards their daughter.

“No!” Rori gasped, both men visibly relaxing in response to her answer. “Christ, Clint. I just wanted to talk to you about the fact that we’re having visitors for the next few days and I would appreciate if you could all stay on your own floors and stay out of here, so you don’t embarrass me.”

“What kind of visitors?” Bruce asked.

“I’m collaborating with a band called Boyce Avenue, so the three members are going to be here until Monday to record in the studio,” Aurora explained, growing more nervous with every second as Nat and Clint shared a look that could only spell trouble for her.

The three Manzano brothers arrived the following morning and within the hour, the four of them were already set up in Aurora’s studio downstairs. As with her collaboration with Our Last Night, much of the work had been done via email over the previous weeks, so they got straight in to running through the arrangements for their covers of Zedd’s _The Middle_ and Khalid’s _Love Lies_. The process was effortless and over the next 4 days they recorded the instrumental and vocal tracks as well as filming the two videos for their separate channels. Aurora and Alejandro’s voices blended together beautifully, and they all had so much fun working together. Thankfully the Avengers took pity on her and stayed out of the way for the duration of the Manzano’s visit and before long the men returned to Florida while Aurora through herself into her college classes, hoping that the months of separation from Harry really would fly by as he’d promised.


	18. Four release, the AMAs & Christmas in Manchester 2014

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to check out my tumblr for fake instargram posts and spotify playlists https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist
> 
> As always, please leave a comment either here on AO3, or on the tumblr chapters, Instagram posts or send me a tumblr ask. I's really love to hear what you all think about this story.

In the middle of November, Aurora was glued to her laptop as she watched the little clock in the corner of her screen ticking away the minutes. She finally hit refresh on her browser one last time and suddenly the new One Direction album was live. She pressed play on the first track, smiling excitedly as _Steal My Girl_ started to play. While the song filled her headphones, she opened up new tabs, logging into Twitter to see how the fans were reacting to _Four_. She smiled as she scrolled through tweet after tweet of fans gushing about their love for not only the album but also for the 5 boys. She felt so much pride for what they had accomplished, having been present for much of the writing and recording of the album she knew just how hard each of them had worked on every single track. She knew they deserved every piece of praise they were receiving now. She texted Harry once she was about halfway through the album.

**◊Aurora: I am so god damn proud of you. Call me when you’ve got a break between interviews.**

She continued listening and reading and she had only 2 tracks to go when her phone lit up with Harry’s grinning face. “Congratulations baby!” she cheered when she answered the call, hearing him chuckle.

“What on earth are you doing up in the middle of the night?” he asked.

“Like I was going to wait until morning for the album release. I wanted to see how all the Brit fans were reacting to it before the Americans wake up.”

“And what’s the verdict?” Harry asked.

“Oh, everyone on twitter hates it,” she joked, laughing when she heard Harry let out a mock gasp. “No, they love it. As they should. It’s incredible H.”

“God, I miss you,” Harry sighed. “We’ve got interviews all day and I’m already exhausted.”

While he was talking, Aurora scrolled across a tweet about her and she quickly read it out to Harry.

**> 1DFan75: Has anyone else noticed that @.AuroraStark has writing credits on Where Do Broken Hearts Go and Fools Gold… what do I do with this information?**

“I’m gonna reply,” she said.

“What are you gonna say?” he asked.

**> AuroraStark: Hoping this was a good revelation for you. If so, I’d advise listening with the volume cranked and scream along at the top of your lungs. Enjoy and go support our boys. x **

“Well you have fun on twitter babe, I gotta get back to the interviews.”

“Have fun,” Rori replied, “I’ll talk to you later ok.”

xXx

A few days after _Four_ was released, Aurora boarded the StarkJet and flew to LA. She went straight to the hotel as soon as she arrived and started getting ready. She had just slipped into her mid-calf length black dress and was sitting on the edge of the bed strapping on her heels for the evening when there was a knock on the door.

Your face lit up when you opened the door to be greeted by all 5 members of One Direction, Harry standing in the middle wearing her favourite grin. She laughed as she briefly realised that they were also wearing all black outfits, ensuring that it would look as though she had intentionally dressed to match them. Harry stepped forward, sweeping her into his arms and pulling her into a bruising kiss as the other boys pushed passed them into the hotel suite.

“I missed you,” she whispered when they pulled apart. “You look fantastic by the way.”

“Took the words right out of my mouth, love,” Harry replied.

“Can you too stop sucking face so we can go?” Louis asked with a laugh, interrupting the couple’s reunion.

Rori rolled her eyes at her friend. “Do you want a cuddle too, Lou?” she joked, letting go of Harry to walk towards Louis with her arms spread wide.

“Good to see you again darl,” he said as the two hugged. “But let’s go, the car’s waiting for us out front.”

Aurora had an incredible night; unlike the previous year she was able to enjoy the evening without the crushing anxiety she had been under with the pressure of her first performance. Instead, she was able to play the role of dotting girlfriend, a role she absolutely loved. She cheered loudly when the boys won each of their three awards for the evening, kissing Harry when each win was announced before he made his way up onto the stage with the other boys to thank their fans. When they performed Night Changes, Aurora sat in the front row in awe, her eyes glossy with unshed tears and her face full of the love and pride she felt for the man she was lucky enough to have called hers for the last year. When the show finally came to an end, Harry and Rori said goodnight to the others as the boys headed to one of the afterparties. The young couple chose to skip the party and headed back to the hotel instead to spend some much needed time together before Aurora flew back to New York the next day.

xXx

Aurora finished up at Columbia a few days before Christmas and after many hugs’ goodbye to her fathers, she boarded a flight to Manchester to spend the Christmas break with Harry and his family. Since she wouldn’t be home, Tony and Steve had chosen to also take a trip for the holidays and were spending Christmas in Malibu, so without access to the jet, she was on a commercial flight and it was long. She spent the hours with her sketchbook spread open on the table in front of her seat, a coloured pencil behind each ear and another between her teeth as she worked. When the flight finally landed, Rori collected her things, throwing everything into her oversized handbag and slinging it over her shoulder before pulling her carry on out of the overhead bin. Once she made it through the arrival’s terminal, she began scanning the hall. She spotted Harry standing towards the back of the small crowd. He had his Green Bay Packers beanie pulled low, his curls poking out from underneath it, dark sunglasses covering his eyes and a heavy winter coat slung over his arm. His smile stretched across his face when he finally noticed Rori making her way towards him, his dimples popping in his cheeks.

“Hey you,” he greeted softly once she finally reached him.

“Hey you,” she echoed, letting go of her suitcases handle and leaning up on her toes to kiss him. They made their way towards the parking garage after pulling apart, one of Harry’s hands resting on her lower back while the other tugged her luggage along behind them.

The sun was sitting as they left the airport and turned south, Aurora’s hand was resting on Harry’s thigh and she watched the clouds turn salmon pink in the sky. It was dark when Harry pulled his landrover into the driveway of Anne and Robins house, and Rori smiled warmly when she climbed out of the car to find Anne stepping out onto the front step.

“Merry Christmas sweetheart,” Anne called out once Rori closed the car door behind her and crossed the small front garden to greet the older women. Harry joined them a moment later with Rori’s bags in his arms and Anne lead them both into the house. Even though they’d only been outside for a few moments, Aurora’s nose was red from the cold and she gratefully removed her coat, hanging it on the hooks in the entry hall. They continued on towards the kitchen from which Aurora could smell the roast in the oven. Robin was standing in the kitchen, waiting for the kettle to boil as he prepared cups of tea for the four of them, and he happily hugged Aurora in greeting before turning back his task. Once the tea was ready, they all sat down around the kitchen table, catching each other up on everything since Aurora had last visited during the summer.

The next day was Christmas Eve and Gemma arrived that evening, just in time to join the family on the sofas in front of the tv, the fireplace crackling as they watched the Grinch who stole Christmas. Aurora had been quiet for most of the day, as she usually was on the anniversary of her mother’s death, but she’d found comfort in Harry’s constant presence by her side and had tried not to let her grief consume her as it had in previous years. By the time they found themselves snuggled up under a blank on the sofa, Aurora felt more at peace with her mother’s absence in her life than she thought possible.

Christmas with Anne, Robin and Gemma was filled with plenty of tea, cosy sweaters, cheesy movies and more food than any of them could eat. By the evening, Aurora was collapsed on the sofa, snuggled up against Harry’s side, sharing a soft blanket as the sound of Michael Bublé filled the living room and Gemma and Anne danced across the rug.


	19. New Year’s Eve in London 2014 & early January 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my tumblr for fake instargram posts and spotify playlists https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist
> 
> Don't forget to leave a comment :)

In the days between Christmas and the New Year, Aurora and Harry spent many hours in the conservatory off the back of the house, watching the snow softly fall in the back garden. Harry would occasionally pull out his acoustic guitar and entertain Rori while she sketched the scene, or they would simply cuddle up under a blanket and talk. The sense of time standing still enveloped the house and allowed for the young couple to remain wrapped up in each other, revelling in the cosy winter atmosphere. On the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, Harry loaded up the car and they said goodbye to Anne and Robin before driving down to London. They arrived well after sunset and while Harry carried in their bags as soon as they arrived at his house, Aurora headed to the bathroom to shower and wash her hair to get ready for the party they were both attending later that evening. She was mostly finished, her hair washed, and legs shaved, when the glass door opened, and Harry joined her under the warm spray.

“Mind if I join?” he murmured, pressing himself against his girlfriend’s back, taking the loofa from her hand and finishing scrubbing the body wash across her stomach and back. Rori chuckled as she turned in his arms, kissing him deeply as he tipped his head under the water to wet his shoulder length curls. She pulled back from the kiss to rub shampoo into his hair, smiling happily as she recalled seeing online that the fans had been calling it his Prince Harry hair.

After they’d both rinsed off and stepped out of the shower, they wrapped themselves in large fluffy towels and Aurora set about drying and styling her hair before getting started on her make up. By the time she was finished and slipping into her skinny jeans and lacey blouse, she turned to see Harry walking out of his large walk-in closet, black skinny jeans hugging his legs and a black button up short open at the collar.

“Help me with the buttons?” Rori asked him, and he stepped forward, pushing her long curls out of the way to button up the back of her shirt. He placed a soft kiss on her bare shoulder when he finished, looking to the mirror in front of them.

“You look beautiful,” he told her softly, earning a beaming smile in return. “Car should be here soon.”

They both turned towards the door, Aurora scooping her clutch purse of the end of the bed as she passed and they made their way down the stairs to the front door, slipping on their winter coats before walking outside and climbing into the waiting uber to take them into the city.

The car dropped them off at one of the many docks along the Thames and they made their way down towards the medium sized boat waiting at the waters edge. The party onboard was already in full swing by the time the pair made it aboard and Rori found herself recognising most of the faces in the crowd, despite having never meeting most of them before. There were other singers, song-writers, producers and other behind the scenes members of the British music scene. Harry soon had a glass in his hand as they pushed through the crowd on the back deck, looking for their friends. Eventually they spotted Louis and Liam towards the back of the boat and exchanged hugs.

“Where’s Niall and Zayn at?” Rori asked as she pulled back from Liam’s arms.

“Zayn bailed to hang with Perrie and Niall’s on his way,” Liam replied.

They continued to chat, laughing as they filled each other in on the Christmas’ with their families until Niall finally arrived a little over half an hour later. The boat pushed from the wharf around 10.30 and the party was swarming on the decks as the clock neared midnight. Since she wasn’t drinking, Aurora was feeling the chill of the winter wind blowing up off the water and headed into the spacious cabin for a while to warm up, knowing she would want to go back out when the fireworks started at midnight. She was sitting on a bench seat along a long bank of windows looking out at the city sliding past on the riverbank as she slowly felt her hands warming back up when Nick Grimshaw sat down next to her.

“Hello love,” he greeted, throwing an arm around her shoulders when she returned his greeting.

“Not drinking?” he asked, noticing the half empty bottle of water next to her.

“I don’t drink,” Rori replied simply.

“Probably a good idea,” he chuckled. “I think everyone else is gonna be feeling pretty miserable tomorrow morning. Mind if I ask why?”

“My dad’s a recovering alcoholic,” Rori replied, shocked that she’d been asked given that not many people had noticed over the years that she didn’t drink, and even fewer had ever bothered to find out why. “Apparently I’m genetically predisposed to addiction, so I just decided not to tempt fate.”

“So, you’ve never had a drink?” Nick asked, not shocked, but certainly curious.

“I tried a sip of Harry’s champagne once but otherwise nope.”

“Huh,” Nick replied, sipping at his own drink and the conversation turned to other things.

Aurora was still sitting there with Nick when Harry found her half an hour later.

“There you are,” he cheered as he stumbled over to her and she could tell that while he wasn’t completely trashed yet, he was well on his way to drunk and she laughed when he fell onto her lap as he attempted to sit next to her. “Sorry love,” he drawled, sliding sideways, his leg still hoked over hers as he sat beside her, his arms wrapping around her waist, “The boats a bit rocky and I don’t think I’ve got my sea legs yet.”

“Yeah, the boats rocky,” Rori parroted sarcastically. “That’s definitely why you can’t walk straight.”

“Of course,” Harry agreed, snuggling his head against her shoulder and Rori laughed deeply, always enjoying how clingy Harry was when he was drunk. She placed soft kisses along his hairline as he hummed, and Nick excused himself to go find someone to dance with him back out on the deck. “Couldn’t find you,” Harry murmured, “got worried about you.”

“I’m sorry babe,” Rori said, rubbing her hand up and down the length of his back. “I just got a bit cold, so I came inside to warm up.”

“I could warm you up,” Harry offered, lifting his head to kiss up along her neck towards her jaw.

“That’s very sweat of you H, but I’m not having sex with you on a crowded boat,” Rori chuckled. Harry pouted and returned to leaning against her shoulder, his arms tightening around her waist instead.

“You’re such a buzzkill,” he mumbled into her skin.

“I love you too,” Rori laughed in reply. “How about we go find the boys. It’s almost midnight.”

Harry agreed and Rori quickly moved his arm around her shoulder and held on to his waist as they headed back out onto the deck. She managed to keep her tipsy boyfriend on his feet as he stumbled along and was grateful when she quickly found Louis and Niall amongst the dancing party guests.

Liam was nowhere in sight when the countdown began, a cool wind whipping through the partiers aboard the boat. Louis and Niall raised their glasses to the sky as they screamed out the count with those around them, drunkenly kissing each other on the cheek as the clock hit midnight and Harry pulled Aurora to him, kissing her deeply. The night sky lit up with the fireworks display, the colours bursting and reflecting off the surface of the Thames below them.

“Happy New Year, H,” Aurora whispered when the pulled apart. “I’ve got a good feeling about 2015.”

“Me too, love. Me too,” Harry replied, smiling broadly down at his girlfriend as the party continued on around them.

xXx

Harry and Aurora were wrapped tightly around each other in Harry’s bed, savouring the final hours before Aurora's flight when her phone started ringing on the bedside table. Harry was closer so he reached for it, passing it over and she briefly saw Marks name and face before she pressed it to her ear, her cheek still flush against Harry’s bare chest. 

“Have you been online today?” he asked.

“Hello to you too Mark,” Rori chuckles, “and no I haven’t. I’ve been a little busy.”

“Well you need to,” her agent replied. “The response to the Rascal Flatts cover you posted a few days ago is great. Everyone loved it, including Rascal Flatts.”

“I’m sorry, what now?” Rori gasped, earning a questioning look from Harry at her change in tone.

“They tweeted out a link to your video and they want to collaborate with you for their next album,” Mark explained, a smile clear in his voice as he pictured her excited expression.

“Holy shit,” Rori said. “Holy shit. Holy fucking shit Mark!” She placed the call on to speaker, opening up twitter and scrolling through her mentions until she found the one she was looking for.

**> RascalFlatts: So incredible to find out that the wonderfully talented @.aurorastark covered our song Riot. You absolutely blew us away Aurora and if you ever wanted to come down to Ohio to write with us, we would love to have you. **

“I don’t even know how to process this,” Rori said, not sure if she was speaking to Harry or Mark or just speaking out loud for the sake of it. She was freaking out and started scrolling through the replies to the tweet.

**> AuroraFan77: Aurora and country music was the crossover I didn’t know I was missing from my life**

**> RascalFlattsFan8: every pop collab they’ve done has been incredible, so I’d been keen for this @.taurenwells @.justinbieber @.natashabdnfield & now @.aurorastark**

“Do you want to do it?” Mark asked when she fell silent.

“Obviously.”

“OK well I’ll reach out and see if we can lock down a time for you to fly to Ohio. You don’t have a lot of free time though. You’re still planning to join Harry on tour as soon as classes finish?”

“I am, yeah,” Rori agreed.

“I think we’ve got some free time around the Ohio shows, Mark,” Harry butted in. “I’ll send you the tour schedule to see if you can fit something in.”

“Thanks Harry,” Mark said. “Anyway, you too enjoy the rest of your day and I’ll talk to you in a few days Rori.”

“Talk to you soon Mark.”


	20. On the Road Again & Art Galleries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my tumblr for fake instargram posts and spotify playlists https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist  
> Don’t forget to leave a comment :)

The first half of 2015 flew by. Aurora was flat out not only with her course work at Columbia, but she also managed to secure a small gallery space and was spending every spare moment painting, in an attempt to finish the series, she intended to show at the end of May. Harry and the boys started the _On the Road Again_ tour in February with their shows in Australia, and with Zayn shocking them all by leaving the band in March, he was also feeling the stress of the first few months of the year. Following a show in Dubai at the start of April, the band took a two month break to write their next album and in the wake of Zayn’s departure, the boys made the decision to stick together during the writing process and flew to New York to write with Aurora. All four of the guys moved into their own floor of the tower and spent most of their days set up in Aurora’s recording studio, writing and recording demos to send to their team. The time off for the group was much needed and they enjoyed being able to kick back and relax with Aurora’s family while working on the album, something they had not had the opportunity to do for their previous albums given that they had all been written and recorded while on the road for touring. Aurora tried to split her time well between her obligations, setting aside enough time to study, paint for her upcoming gallery show and also working on the writing process with the guys. Harry also enjoyed being able to split his time while staying in the tower; he and the boys would all join Steve in the gym every morning and eating dinner with the entire team every evening. Harry felt comfortable in the tower and after more than a year together, he considered Rori’s home as his own, just as he hoped she felt comfortable in his and he would often roam the common floor while the band took a break, spending time with various members of the Avengers team. While the boys would usually turn in from bed around 11pm every night, Harry would have to pull his girlfriend from her art studio well after midnight every night, forcing her to get some sleep. Finally, a busy month and a half, Aurora sat her final exam for the school year and her paintings were completed and ready for the opening of her show.

Harry met her at the gallery space in the afternoon, the day before the opening night, watching on as she instructed staff as to where each of the 18 pieces should hang and he felt so incredibly proud of her. She’d worked so hard on each painting and to see them all hung together allowed him to finally see the theme she had running through the entire series that she had been explaining to him for the last few weeks. 

“It’s going to be a hit,” he told her once the last canvas was hanging in its place. “Everyone is going to love it.”

“I hope you're right,” she said. “I just want people see what I’m trying to do here and not just think I’m trying to capitalize on the family.”

xXx

The Gallery show opened 3 days later and Aurora felt an immense sense of pride in her work as she watched people walk around, taking in her paintings. Her dads were both walking through the crowd, talking with guests about how great the paintings were, as were the Harry’s 3 bandmates. Aurora was feeling incredibly grateful for how supportive her friends and family were and she felt herself getting quite emotional. Harry, who was standing next to her, noticed her starting to sniffle and placed his hands on her shoulders, turning her to look at him.

“You ok?” he asked, looking her in the eye.

“Just a little overwhelmed by the response,” Rori replied, taking a deep breath to calm her emotions. “It doesn’t feel real.”

“You deserve all of this love,” Harry told her, hugging her tight against him, her cheek cushioned against his chest as they both watched the guests wander around the space, taking in the art on the wall. “You’re incredible,” he whispered.

Aurora looked across the gallery, taking in the 18 canvases on the exposed brick walls. Each work was made up of a pair a canvases, hanging next to each other with a metre gap between each pair and the next. The first pair was made up of a painting of the Iron Man armour and on it’s matching canvas there was a painting of her father cooking pasta in the kitchen. The next pair of canvases similarly showed the two apposing sides of her Pops, with one painting depicting Captain America in his full uniform, while the other showed Steve standing by an easel, paint splatted on his white undershirt and a soft smile on his face. The rest of the series continued along the same theme, showing each member of the Avengers team as the superhero the world new and the family member that Aurora loved; Clint was laughing as he threw balls of paper at the back of Sam’s head, Bruce was mid-yoga pose, Nat was dancing, Thor was playing video games, Sam was laying on his bed listening to music with his headphones on, and Bucky was reading a book.

The last pair of canvases showed the team assembled together on the left, as if preparing for battle and on the right, they were all collapsed on sofas, bean bags and recliners, staring off at an unseen flat screen tv out of frame. The overall effect of the series was clear, or so Aurora hoped. No person was one thing; identity was multifaceted and complicated and different people saw different aspects of everyone’s identity. Aurora hoped that the collection would encourage people to view those around them as multifaceted individuals with hopes and dreams and families and insecurities. Since becoming a public figure 3 years ago this was something that had plagued Aurora’s mind; to so many people on the internet she was the one thing they believed her to be. For some that was a privileged white girl, for others she was just a song writer, while others saw her merely as the girlfriend of Harry Styles or the daughter of Tony Stark. In truth she was all of those things, but she was also a normal girl, who grew up in a tiny apartment above a London pub, she was the product of a single mother who worked every day of her life to give her daughter the best life she could, and she was also so much more. That was the message she hoped this show would portray, the mark she hoped to leave on those who came to view her work, to imagine people complexly.

xXx

Following the second week of Aurora’s art show, she flew out with the boys for Cardiff, Wales for the start of the next leg of their tour on the 5th of June. The day of the first show, Aurora was sitting in the green room, waiting for the boys to come back from one of their many media obligations. She was drawing while she waited, periodically picking up her phone to see if any other critics had reviewed her show. It felt weird for her to not be there for the final two weeks, but she wanted to be there with Harry. She’d spent months looking forward to her chance to spend the summer with him and the boys and she knew she’d made the right choice to come on tour now given everything that had happened at the end of their last set of shows. Her art was in safe hands and she trusted Pepper to coordinate its safe return to the tower after the show came to an end, so she decided to put it aside in her head and focus her attention on being there on tour and present in the moment.

When the boys returned to the green room, she was struck again by how weird it was for there only to be the four of them now and she frowned. The entire time she had known Harry it had been him and the four boys, but now for Zayn to be gone, she still didn’t quite understand. She remembered when Harry had called her from the road, the night that Zayn had walked out on them. He’d been in tears and her heart had broken as she stayed on the phone with him for hours, promising that it would be ok. That no matter what happened with the band, that she would be there, and he would be ok. They had talked about restructuring songs, splitting up Zayn’s parts between the four of them and after they’d hung up, she had cried. While she and Zayn had not been best friends like she was with Louis, and they hadn’t gotten along quite as easily as she did with Liam or Niall, she had still grown to think of him as her brother, as she had with all of them. He was always quieter than the others and sometimes when the chaos of the tour had become just a little too much, the two of them would hide away somewhere quiet to relax and decompress. She’d tried to call him a few days after he’d left, but he’d ignored her call, probably assuming that she would have sided with Harry, like a child having to pick which parent to live with after the divorce. In truth she’d just wanted to make sure her friend was ok. It had been months now and she still hadn’t heard from him. She’d sent texts and twitter dm’s, trying to explain that she just wanted to talk and that she missed him, but it had all gone unanswered. The only contact any of them had had with him since March had been when Louis had argued with him on twitter in April. All of this was running through her head as the boys piled into the green room, flopping down on sofas and attempting to relax before they were needed on stage in a little over an hour. Harry placed a kiss on her cheek as he walked past her towards where Lou was waiting to fix his hair for the show.

“You look like something’s bothering you,” Liam said, sitting down beside her and casually throwing an arm across the back of the sofa she was curled up on.

“I’m good,” Rori replied with a small smile.

“No, you’re not,” Liam pressed, his eyes flicking around the room to make sure no one was listening to their conversation. “Talk to me.”

“Just feels weird, doesn’t it?” Rori whispered, her eyes also glancing to the others, not wanting to upset anyone. “I still don’t really understand what happened and it just doesn’t really feel right that he’s not here.”

“Yeah,” Liam sighed. “It feels wrong, but we’ve got to keep moving. We might never really know why he did it, but we’ve just got to work with what we’ve got now and try to make it work.”

“I’m sorry I brought it up,” Rori said, noticing Liam’s eyes were now a little misty with unshed tears.

“It’s ok Rori,” Liam replied, smiling softly as he wrapped his arms around her. “We’ve got to be able to lean on each other, right?”

“Oi!” Harry yelled with a laugh. “Get your mitts off my girl.”

“Sharing is caring,” Rori joked, laughing loudly when Harry pulled her to her feet and out of Liam’s arms. “Rude!” she giggled, kissing his cheek. She looked back at Liam, glad to see that Harry’s joke had broken the sombre mood they had slipped into, even if he didn’t know that’s what he’d done.

xXx

Despite missing a member, the tour was a success, continuing on much like the previous one had and after the first few shows, Aurora found that it felt just like old times. They travelled across Europe and along the west coast and into Canada, recording and finalising the new album. Aurora even recorded the piano track for _If I Could Fly_ , a song that she had written with Harry late one night when they’d stayed up in the studio after the others had turned in for the night.

Something she often did with tracks she wrote for other artists was to record her own version and a few months after they released their track, she would release her version on her YouTube channel; a series she called _The Demo Tapes_. She had writing credit on almost every track on the new album, but after talking about it with the boys, they had decided that _If I Could Fly_ , should be the track for her to record given that it was so personal to both her and Harry, so one afternoon in late August the two had set themselves up with the bands producers to record a duet of the song, filming the recording process to use for the music video in addition to the footage Aurora already had of playing the song on her grand piano back in New York. Singing with Harry was always one of her favourite things and being able to sing their song together filled her heart with so much love for the curly haired man standing on the other side of the microphone, his headphones pushing his long curls back from his face.

“What do you say we give the whole thing one last run through love? From the top?” Harry asked her once they were told they had everything. “One just for us?”

She returned his smile, adjusting her headphones. “Let’s do it,” she said, clearing her throat before the familiar sound of her keys filled their ears.

[ **Harry** – Aurora – _both_ ]

 **If I could fly  
I'd be coming right back home to you  
I think I might give up everything, just ask me to**  
Pay attention, I hope that you listen   
Cause I let my guard down  
Right now I'm completely defenceless  
  
 **For your eyes only, I show you my heart  
For when you're lonely and forget who you are**  
 **I'm missing half of me when we're apart  
Now you know me, for your eyes only  
For your eyes only**  
  
I've got scars, even though they can't always be seen  
And pain gets hard, but now you're here and I don't feel a thing  
Pay attention, I hope that you listen cause I let my guard down  
Right now I'm completely defenceless  
  
 _For your eyes only, I show you my heart  
For when you're lonely and forget who you are  
I'm missing half of me when we're apart  
Now you know me, for your eyes only  
For your eyes only_  
  
 **I can feel your heart inside of mine**  
(I feel it, I feel it)  
 **I've been going out of my mind**  
(I feel it, I feel it)  
 _Know that I'm just wasting time  
And I_  
 **Hope that you don't run from me**  
  
For your eyes only,  
 _I show you my heart_  
 **For when you're lonely**  
 _And forget who you are_  
 **I'm missing half of me**  
 _When we're apart_  
Now you know me, for your eyes only  
  
 _For your eyes only, I show you my heart  
For when you're lonely and forget who you are  
I'm missing half of me when we're apart  
Now you know me, for your eyes only  
_For your eyes only _  
_ **For your eyes only**

As the final notes faded out, Harry stepped around the microphone and swept Aurora into his arms, kissing her deeply as they both forgot about everyone else in the room, or the camera set up on the tripod to record the process.


	21. On the Road Again cont. & Rascal Flatts: August 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooof this one is looong
> 
> As always please check out my tumblr for fake instargram posts and spotify playlists https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist  
> Don’t forget to leave a comment :)
> 
> I've been emotionally listening to Rascal Flatt's 'How They Remember You' EP and wishing they weren't ending the band because I adore them so it was natural that I had to make them collab with Aurora. If you've never listened to them, I would highly recommend even though I know that a lot of people hate country. At the very least go listen to 'Hands Talk', 'Yours if you want it' and of course 'Are you happy now?'

As August began, the band found themselves back in New York. Following a show in Pittsburgh they arrived in the morning, the day before they were scheduled to appear on _Good Morning America_ for the shows Summer Concert series and since it was scheduled to be filmed in Central Park, a mere stones throw away from Avengers Tower, it made sense for them to stay there instead of booking hotel suites for all of them.

Tony and Steve were glad to have Rori home, if only for two days, having missed her while she travelled with the band for the last 2 months and she’d missed them too, of course, happy to be home briefly before continuing on with the tour for another month. That evening they all crowded into the living room in the penthouse with Sam, Bucky and Thor joining the Stark-Rogers family and the band. They watched a movie, Aurora curled up against Tony, his arm wrapped around her shoulder. She fell asleep at some point, waking up when Louis started throwing popcorn at her, causing Niall to laugh hysterically. They didn’t stay up too late, aware of how early they would need to be up the following morning.

They sky was still dark when they woke the next morning and the sun was still hidden behind the city skyline, barely lighting the sky as they left the tower and walked across the road towards the southwest corner of Central Park. They were joined by the bands security team as they made their way up West Drive and across Sheep Meadow to reach the Summer Stage in Rumsey Playfield. Despite the pre-dawn hour, fans were already camped out across the park, having slept out overnight to ensure their spots for the concert and the five of them dashed towards the backstage tents behind the stage, avoiding drawing the attention of the fans in the soft morning light.

Finally, the sun rose into the sky, warming the summer morning and Aurora grinned with pride as they boys sat on the stage in front of all their fans, talking about the upcoming album, the rest of the tour and Louis’ exciting baby news. By the time the interview concluded, and the boys prepared for the first song, the morning was already warming up and Aurora removed her jacket, revealing her sundress and her most recent tattoo, a rose nestled between her shoulder blades, the stem tracing down her spine. She lifted her hands into the air, joining the fans surrounding her, cheering as the boys stepped back out on the stage and started the performance.

By the time the last song came to an end, Aurora made her way out of the crowd and towards the backstage tent, throwing her arms around Harry once he made his way of the stage.

xXx

After leaving New York, the tour stopped in Rutherford and Baltimore before taking 9 days off and while Niall, Liam and Louis used the time to fly home and see family briefly, Harry and Aurora headed for the coast to spend a few days on the beach.

Aurora barely wasted a moment to drop her bags inside the little beachfront cottage that they’d rented before she was out the door and heading down to the warm sand. Harry joined her a few moments later, wrapping his arms around her stomach as he came up behind where she was standing, her eyes closed and face turned towards the water, soaking up the afternoon sunlight, their toes digging into the sand below them.

They spent the next few days swimming in the ocean, reading or watching movies in the evenings and revelling in the opportunity to spend time alone together with nowhere to be or no one demanding their attention for one thing or another. On their last evening they were curled up on the porch swing, looking out over the moonlit waves, a blanket thrown over their laps to ward off the cool breeze blowing up off the ocean. Harry had a glass of wine in one hand, his other resting around Aurora’s shoulders as her head lay on his shoulder.

“So, there’s something I need to tell you before we get back to the tour,” Harry said, breaking the comfortable silence that had stretched around them in the summer night. “Something the boys and I have been talking about for a while now.”

“Should I be worried?” Rori asked, lifting her head up to look into his eyes.

“No,” Harry promised, “but we’ve decided to take a break. We’re going to go on a hiatus for a year or two.”

“What?” Aurora asked, surprised by the news, having had no idea that it was even an idea before now. “But things have been going so well. Why?”

“We’re all exhausted,” he explained. “None of us have gotten the chance to see our families or live our lives for more than a few weeks at a time in years. We’re in our early 20s and we’ve been working non-stop for the last 5 years. Zayn leaving just made us realise that this isn’t healthy for any of us and we decided we should take a year or two off now before any of us burn out. I don’t want any of them to leave like he did, I can’t do that again. If we all take a break now, we can make sure that doesn’t happen. I just hope the fans don’t hate us for it.”

“Oh Harry,” Rori sighed, wrapping her arms around her boyfriend and pulling him tightly against her. “They’ll be upset but they’ll support you guys no matter what happens. So will I.”

“I love you Rori,” he whispered. “Don’t know what I’d do without you in my life.”

“Good thing you’ll never have to find out,” she replied, smiling warmly up at the man she loved before kissing him. “When are you going to announce it?” she asked softly when they pulled apart.

“In a few weeks.”

xXx

Aurora and Harry flew into Columbus, Ohio the day before the band was scheduled to perform there, and while Harry headed for the stadium for rehearsals and interviews, Aurora took a cab to a local music studio.

She was nervous as she climbed out of the cab, adjusting the hem of her shirt as she made her way through the front doors and gave her name to the receptionist behind the front desk. She was buzzed through the doors to the right and instructed to take the first right and then the third door on the left. Aurora knocked as she opened the door and stepped into the control room, the large window in one wall looking into a spacious live room, instruments and microphones already set up and waiting. There were 3 men sitting in the control room, who all stood when she entered, stepping forward to introduce themselves. Gary, Jay and Joe were all lovely guys, and Aurora was a little star struck at first, having been fans of Rascal Flatts for years, but after spending most of the day chatting and getting to know each other she quickly got over that and was able to look forward to working alongside them for the 2 weeks without the overwhelming anxiety.

The following night Aurora watched the boys from the side of stage and once they left the stadium, she spent the evening wrapped up in Harry’s arms back at the hotel.

“So, Toronto, Chicago, Milwaukee and then you’re back with me,” Rori mumbled in the darkness.

“You’ll be so busy writing number 1 hits that you won’t have time to miss me,” Harry chuckled, trying to brighten his girlfriend’s mood.

“I know it’s silly,” she said. “It’s only 2 weeks but I’m so used to sleeping next to you every night.”

“It’s not silly, love,” Harry promised. “I feel the same, and I really wish we were gonna be together when the hiatus announcement drops.”

“You’ll have the boys with you. You’ll be ok. Just remember the fans love you guys so much. They could never hate you.”

“It’s gonna break their hearts though,” Harry mumbled. “Hate the thought of hurting them after they’ve given me my dreams.”

“And that’s why I love you.”

xXx

For the entirety of the two weeks Harry was gone, Aurora spent almost every moment she could in the studio with Gary, Joe and Jay, revelling in the opportunity to spend uninterrupted time writing and playing. She’d never set aside so much time to write music, usually spending an afternoon here or there, or scribbling lyrics in the back of notebooks while she studied, and she loved every minute of it.

“Ok I’ve got half of something,” Rori said one morning after they’d piled into the studio. “Just a half assed melody and a verse and chorus I came up with last night.”

“Alright well let’s hear it,” Joe said.

Aurora flipped open her notebook to the page she scribbled on the previous night and began to sing what she had, humming when she didn’t have the words to fill the gap.

_I know we're running … usually two different ways  
But we need more than just a quick kiss and a wave goodbye  
I need you and only you by my side  
  
Why don't we turn off the phones, get somewhere alone?  
I'll trace that smile on your face, 'til the stars fade away  
Baby, cut off the lights, let our hands talk tonight  
There's things that need to be said, ….  
Got good love to be made, take as long as it takes  
One touch at a time, let our hands talk tonight_

Joe picked up his guitar when she finished singing and started to put together the melody, asking her to re-sing certain sections, and then Jay was joining in with the bass line and Gary started piecing together another verse. They spent a few says working on the song until they’d finished _Hands Talk_ and moved on to work on something else.

They played most of _Yours If You Want It_ to Aurora towards the end of the first week and she made some suggestions to the unfinished song, writing a section to slip into the song about 2/3rds of the way through.

_Every dollar, every dime, every drop of rain,_ _Every single thing I could beg, steal, or borrow  
Every yesterday and tomorrow  
Well every grain of sand on the beach  
Every blade of grass under our feet  
Baby your name is written on it  
And it's yours if you want it_

“I love it,” Gary said, singing it through a few times for smiling widely. “Inviting you down here was the best idea we’ve ever had.”

The second week of Aurora’s stay in Columbia, she and Gary put their heads together and wrote _Are You Happy Now_ over the course of a few days and after Gary sang the song through with Joe and Jay accompanying him on the guitar and bass, and Aurora playing the piano, all four of them were grinning from ear to ear with excitement.

“This one’s good,” Jay said.

“Let’s go through once more I want to try something,” Aurora said, already starting to play the opening keys of the song. The guys laughed at her eagerness but joined in quickly and when they reached the bridge and the third chorus, Aurora joined in on the vocals with Gary.

“Now that I'm not around,” Gary sang with Aurora echoing the line.  
“Now that you've finally,” Gary began, Aurora joining him on the second half of the line, “lost what you thought that you needed, never would have treated your heart, like you did. What goes around comes back around.”  
“It's been that way forever,” Gary continued.  
“Baby, just look at you now,” they sang together, Gary dropping out to let Aurora finish the line alone, “barely holding it together.”  
they alternated the next four lines seamlessly, Gary singing first and then Aurora.

“We're so in love.”

“but you gave that up.”

“Just look around.”  
“Just look around.”

And then they sang the last chorus together, occasionally alternating lines, dipping in and out of the lyrics, watching each other to read which lines to take and which to leave for the other.

“Oh wow,” Jay said when they finished the song. “That was incredible.”

Aurora smiled, blushing as all three men gushed about how great hers and Gary’s voices had blended together.

“This going to have to be a duet,” Gary said, before sitting down with the lyrics and working out where to split the song between the two of them. In the end, Gary took the first verse and Aurora took the second, while they sang the chorus’s together, layering their voices together as the song built toward the final chorus, following the same arrangement they’d sang the first time round and then Aurora played out the final few notes on the piano. After practicing the arrangement a few times, they called it a day and agreed that when they came in the next day they would get in the technician to record the song in full since Aurora only had 2 more days left to work with the boys before she had to drive the 2 hours up to Cleveland to meet back up with Harry and the tour.

They spent every minute of those two days recording the track, Aurora not only laying down her vocals but also playing the piano on the track. An hour before she needed to be on the road, they were all crowded into the control room to listen to the finished song, no one making a sound as it played.

Aurora was grinning from ear to ear when the song faded out to silence, immensely proud of the song and all the work they’d put into it over the last week.

“Thank you so much for this opportunity guys,” she said, turning to look at each of them.

“We should be thanking you,” Joe laughed. “We’re the ones that have 3 incredible tracks for the next album thanks to you. I don’t think we’ve ever had such a productive two weeks in our lives.”

“Me either,” Rori agreed. “But honestly I just had so much fun, so thank you for inviting me down here.”

“You’re welcome, Rori,” Gary said. “There’s actually something we wanted to ask you before you leave. We usually perform at the CMAs in November and me and the boys were talking last night. We were wondering if you’d want to come down and debut _Happy Now_ with us?”

“You want me to sing at the Country Music awards with you?” Aurora asked, shock clear on her face and in her voice causing all three men to chuckle.

“We do,” Jay replied. “The songs bloody great. You in?”

“Absolutely!” Aurora cheered, grinning broadly, all three men hugging her tightly before she said her goodbyes and climbed into the cab waiting for her outside.

xXx

Unlike the previous year when Harry had gone to New York with her at the end of her time on tour, this year she stood in the departures lounge of the Buffalo airport watching as Harry walked away from her to board a flight to Montreal. She tried to hold back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes, knowing that she would see him in November for the CMAs. She held it together right up until he turned around to wave goodbye one last time and the sad expression on his face pushed her over the edge, breaking the dam and sending the tears dripping over her cheeks. The moment Harry saw them, he dropped his bag and run back towards her, causing Niall to pause where he had been walking beside him.

Harry swept Aurora up in his arms, gripping her tightly as her breath stuttered. She tried desperately to pull herself together, knowing that her reaction would only hurt the man she loved, making it more difficult for him to get on the plane that would take him away from her.

“9 weeks,” Harry whispered. “9 weeks and I’ll be back.”

“I know,” Rori replied, her face still buried in his shoulder. “I love you.”

“I love you too. God, I don’t want to get on that plane,” Harry said. “I want to stay here with you and never leave again.”

“You’d be bored,” Rori joked, pulling back from the hug and pecking his lips one last time.

“Never. This hiatus can’t start soon enough,” he sighed.

“You have to go,” Rori urged, pushing him away gently, noticing Niall still waiting by the gate. “Call me when you land.”

Harry pulled her in for one last desperate kiss before turning and walking back to Niall. He didn’t turn back this time and Aurora held her breath until he disappeared from view. As soon as he was gone, she let the sobs break through her chest, slowly walking through the terminal towards her own gate. She waited in the private lounge until her flight was ready and then made her way on board, settling into her first class seat. She put on her headphones and shuffled _Four_ , a soft smile ghosting over her lips as she listened to Harry’s voice, leaning her head back against the seat with her eyes shut as the plane began to taxi down the runway. She let herself wallow in her sadness, knowing that she would need to put it aside when she reached home in about 2 hours’ time. Leaving Harry was never easy, and she hated the months they spent apart but at the same time she had desperately missed her family and was anxious to see them again. She was also excited to start back at school the following week, eager to begin her final year of college, knowing that once she graduated she would be free to travel the world with Harry and very little would keep them apart now that the band was going on Hiatus for the next year and a half.

xXx

A few days after she returned home, Tony and Steve were scheduled to appear on the Late Show for the first night with the new host Stephen Colbert, and since she didn’t have any classes the day they were needed at the Ed Sullivan Theatre, Aurora decided to join them for the day. Having appeared on the Late Show a couple of times when it was hosted by Letterman, Aurora somewhat knew her way around the theatre, although it was interesting to see the subtle changes that had been made for the shows soft reboot with a new host. She’d watched Tony and Steve’s interview from the green room, smiling softly at Steve awkwardness and Tony’s absolute calm in front of the cameras and the audience. Colbert asked them about the team, about leading them together and of course he asked about their relationship. Tony took the lead with most of the answers but when they were asked what it was like having your husband next to you in a fire fight, it was Steve that answered first.

“It’s the best and worst part of the job,” he answered, his arm slung over Tony’s shoulder. “Fantastic because there’s no one I’d trust to have my back more than Tony, but it’s also completely terrifying because if he goes down, I know I’m out of the fight too because I’m going straight for him and getting him out of there.”

They answered more questions about Avenging before being asked about family life.

“Never planned on being a dad,” Tony said. “But Rori’s such an incredible woman and she’s made both of our lives so much better in the last 4 years. Can’t imagine not being a dad anymore.”

“And Steve,” Colbert asked, “what’s it like being a stepdad?”

“Like Tony said,” Steve replied, “Aurora’s so incredible and being her dad is probably the best thing I’ve ever done with my life. I’m very lucky to have her as my daughter. As our daughter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited for the next chapter. It's the first thing I wrote for this story and it's what started this whole thing so I'm so excited to have finally caught up to it :)


	22. The Columbia University Shooting: September 29th, 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW/TW: This chapter contains a mass shooting and the aftermath of that event. It includes details of injuries and blood. None of the main characters die, but please proceed with care if this is something that can be difficult for you. If you want to skip I will provide a quick summary in end notes
> 
> As always please check out my tumblr for fake instargram posts and spotify playlists https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist  
> Don’t forget to leave a comment :)

A month into the start of her 3rd year at Columbia, Aurora was sitting in the library with a few friends from one of her painting classes. It was the end of September and they were talking about the fact that she would be at the CMAs in a little over a month. They were chatting happily when the first sound of gunfire rang out, at initially she didn’t realize what it was. Her first thought was that someone had set of firecrackers in the hallway outside the library and then realization dawned. Rori saw the fear in the eyes of other students around her as everyone scrambled for somewhere safe to hide. They’d all run through the drills countless times over the years and every one of them knew what to do, stay away from windows, hide behind something solid and stay quiet. When she’d first moved to America the concept of an active shooter was so foreign but that had been years ago now and there had been countless school shootings across the country since. She could feel her heartbeat in every limb, her breathing rapid and her hands were trembling as she cowered under the table in the library beside her friends. She remembered watching a documentary on the Columbine massacre and let out a small whimper as she remembered those kids also hiding under tables in the library. 

Aurora reached for her StarkWatch on her wrist, scrolling through the menu to pull up the panic button Tony had shown her when he’d first designed the product, the same button she’d used the previous year the night that she’d almost been mugged in central park and first met Peter. She hit the button, knowing that JARVIS would alert any Avenger in the state. “J activate Eyes and Ears protocol,” she whispered, ensuring that the AI was now recording everything that the microphone picked up, while muting any and all notifications so as not to draw attention to herself. “Send the following alert to Avengers; There’s a shooter on campus. I’m in the library and they sound like they’re close to…”

She was cut off from continuing her message as a girl let out a shriek of fear nearby when the doors were thrown open and the sound of gunshots echoed off the walls, deafeningly loud. Rori whimpered, clasping one of her hands over her mouth to muffle the sound, the other reaching out to hold onto one of her friends beside her. She listened in horror as the unknown gunman moved from one table to the next, indiscriminately shooting everyone they came across, and eventually their blood stained shoes came into Rori’s view. Her cheeks were damp with falling tears when he ducked down, locking eyes with her as he raised his weapon.

“Please don’t,” she begged helplessly, raising her left hand in front of her as if it could shield her from what came next.

The pain was excruciating, beyond explanation as blood ran down her arm, pooling on the ground. A second wound blossomed across her lower abdomen, quickly soaking through her pale grey sweater. More gun shots continued to ring out as Aurora’s vision became hazy and she fought against the desire to rest. She slumped backwards on the floor as still more blood continued to pool around her, a lot of it her own, but more still coming from her friends. 

She was barely holding onto consciousness when Steve found her. He hadn’t even taken the time to suit up when the alert rang out through the tower, sparing only enough time to grab his shield before he was running for the balcony, Tony meeting him there in the Iron Man suit. They flew together, covering the distance in mere minutes, arriving on the campus to hear the discharging of an automatic weapon and the screaming of victims. The police arrived hot on their tales and the couple shared a brief moment to coordinate before heading into the sprawling campus. Tony would seek out the shooter, while Steve would head for the library to find their daughter. The live broadcast from Aurora's watch was playing out over their comms link, so Steve could hear the injured wails surrounding his daughter. His heart had lurched when he’d heard her beg for her life, a sound he knew he would hear in his nightmares, but since then she had been silent. He tried not to think about what that meant, pushing his muscles to the extreme as he sprinted across the campus. 

He found her curled up beneath a table, blood soaking through her sweater and her left hand a mangled mess of flesh and bone. He sucked in a deep breath, pushing aside his torment as a father and focusing on the scene as a soldier. He slipped his arm through the straps of the shield, freeing both of his hands and bent down, scooping her up and cradling her against his chest, his white button down shirt instantly turning red with blood. Aurora’s eyes fluttered open briefly as she moaned in pain. 

“Pops?” She mumbled, squinting up at him from where her head rested against his shoulder. 

“Shhh, I’m here bug,” he soothed, already exiting the library and heading for where the triage point had been set up. “Everything’s gonna be ok.”

xXx

Harry was sitting with Niall on a sofa in the green room of the O2 Arena in London while Louis and Liam were playing table tennis across the room. That night’s show was set to start in a little over 2 hours and there were plenty of people coming and going from the room as the boys relaxed before they had to go out on stage. Harry was laughing at Liam’s failed dive to save a shot when a member of their management team, Dan, rushed into the room.

“Everyone not in the band, out, now!” he yelled. Confused looks were exchanged before the order was followed and within a few minutes the room was empty of everyone except the four boys.

“What’s going on,” Louis asked as he and Liam walked over to join the other two on the sofa.

“I’m not sure how to break this so I’m just going to say it,” Dan said, his gaze nervously flitting to Harry before he looked away. “The news is reporting that there’s been a mass shooting at Columbia University in New York.”

The silence that followed his words was thick in the air. No one moved, barely even breathing as the words slowly settled between them. Louis was the first to recover, quickly looking to Harry in dawning horror as Harry pulled his phone from his pocket, already dialling Aurora’s number. Liam also pulled his phone out, pulling up the latest news report. He gasped in shock when the first article included a photo of Steve carrying Aurora out of a building, blood soaking through both of their outfits.

“Haz,” he whispered, unable to make his voice any louder but not needing to in the dead silence of the room. Harry looked towards Liam, his phone still pressed to his ear as it continued to ring and ring and ring. Liam turned his phone around to show the others the photo, watching as all the colour drained from Harry’s face. He hung up his phone, knowing now that there was no one to answer his call.

“I…” he stammered. “I need to be on a plane.”

“You have a show in 2 hours,” Dan replied.

“Fuck the show!” Louis shouted, causing everyone in the room to jump in response to his outburst. “Get him on a plane, we’ll deal with the show later.”

xXx

The flight was the longest 8 hours of Harry’s life. He’d tried to call both Tony and Steve before he boarded the plane, but when neither answered he’d opened up the JARVIS app that Tony has installed on his phone when he last visited the tower. He informed JARVIS of his flight details and asked the AI to let both of Aurora’s parents know that he was on his away and then he turned his phone to airplane mode and ran his hand over his face, exhausted but unable to sleep. By the time he reached JFK, Harry was unsure how he was still on his feet. He was beyond tired and scared to the point of being sick as he walked through the terminal, his duffle bag hanging from his shoulder, grateful that there weren’t any fans to stop him for a photo. He recognised Happy once he made it to the curb and slipped into the backseat of the town car, closing his eyes as he lent his head back against the seat for the brief moment it took Happy to round the car and climb into the driver’s seat.

“Any news?” he asked.

“She was in surgery last I heard,” Happy told him, swinging the car out into traffic and heading for the hospital. “How are you?”

“Terrified,” Harry said honestly. “Tony and Steve?”

“About the same,” Happy replied.

They lapsed into silence for the rest of the drive and when they finally arrived, Happy walked Harry passed the media camped outside the front doors, waiting for any updates on the survivors.

“They’ve got a private waiting room set up for you guys,” Happy told him once they reached the correct floor. “It’s the second door on the left up there. I’ll go take your things to the tower and then I’ll check in with Pepper.”

“Thanks Hap,” Harry said, offering the man a tired smile before slowly walking down the hall.

When he opened the door, he found most of the Avengers team sprawled out across the hard, unforgiving seats, a few looked up at the sound of his entrance and offered him sad, exhausted nods in greeting. It was Steve who stood and made his way over to Harry. Tony remained in the seat next the one Steve had just vacated, his head buried in his hands, somewhat oblivious to anything around him.

“Harry,” Steve said, pulling him into a hug. “Thanks for coming.”

“Of course,” Harry replied, patting Steve’s back before the pair stepped apart. “How is she?”

“She’s been in surgery for the last few hours and we haven’t had an update yet,” Steve explained, walking Harry back over to where Tony had still yet to move. They both fell into the empty seats on his right. “She was in pretty bad shape by the time we got her here, but the doctors seem pretty confident that she’ll be ok.”

Harry didn’t realise he’d been holding his breath until he heard Steve say that Rori would be ok. He let the air rush out of his lungs as a sob burst from his lips. Steve placed a comforting hand on the younger man’s shoulder as he finally let out all the built up emotion that he’d been desperately holding back since he’d first seen the photo of Aurora ,unconscious and blood-drenched in her father’s arms. His sobs echoed around the room, filled with all the fear that had been building for hours and the relief that his worst nightmare had not become a reality.

“I thought I was gonna be too late,” Harry confessed when he finally regained enough composure to speak. “I was terrified that by the time I got here she’d be gone.”

“She’s gonna be ok,” Steve promised, wrapping his arms around Harry and hugging the young man again. “Our girls a fighter.”

“I love her so much, Steve,” Harry whispered. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her.”

“We know,” Steve replied, his voice also soft in the quiet room. “Everything’ll be ok. You’ll see.”

xXx

A few more hours passed before a surgeon came out to explain Aurora’s condition to them. She’d sustained serious damage to her left arm below the elbow, with much of the limb needing to be reconstructed with future surgeries. She had also been shot in the upper arm and shoulder, both wounds being less severe through-and-throughs, however her collar bone had been broken, as had her shoulder blade. While most of her injuries were confined to her left arm, one bullet had pierced her lower abdomen, causing a wound that had been the main focus of her time in the operating theatre. The surgeon explained that given the circumstances that she had been incredibly lucky that none of bullets had impacted any of her vital organs and that she was now being transferred into a recovery ward.

A nurse had come in half an hour later to escort them to Aurora’s room and the rest of the team had headed home. Tony, Steve and Harry were slumped in uncomfortable plastic chairs at Aurora’s bedside when she finally awoke from the anaesthetic.

She was disorientated at first, groggy from the anaesthetic and confused by the harsh fluorescent lighting. All three men surged forward out of their seats as she started to wake, rushing to her side immediately. Her eyes flitted from her fathers to Harry before she burst into tears. Harry reacted quicker than either of the other two men, gently wrapping his arms around her, cautious of her injuries, and pulled her against his chest as she gasped for breath.

“I thought I’d never see you again,” she sobbed.

“I’m right here,” Harry soothed. “You’re ok. I’m here. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“I love you Harry,” she continued. “I love you so much, I was so scared.”

“God, I love you too,” Harry replied. “More than anything. I love you, you’re safe now. I won’t let anything else happen to you. I love you.”

He kept whispering his promises and confessions of love until her breathing finally calmed and he loosened his hold on her just enough to turn her towards her fathers.

“Please don’t scare me like that again kiddo,” Tony begged, his own tears welling in his eyes as he gazed at his daughter. “We can’t lose you, ok?”

She nodded silently, tears dripping down her cheeks as she leant away from Harry’s chest and reached her uninjured hand out towards her dad, urging him to move forward and pull her into a hug. Steve added his arms around them both and Harry watched on as the small family held each other close, trying not to think of what the alternative scene would have looked like.

xXx

For the next 3 days following the shooting, Aurora found herself meeting with one surgeon after another, first discussing the recovery process for the abdominal wound and her broken collar bone and shoulder blade, and then they were making plans to reconstruct her hand and forearm. The initial surgery had merely stopped the bleeding and stabilized the bones to avoid further damage but as the doctors explained, more surgeries would be needed if she wanted to regain use of the limb. 2 days after the shooting Aurora went back into the OR to have a steel rod inserted where her radius and ulna used to form her forearm and countless plates, pins and screws were imbedded into her hand to stabilize the shattered bones and torn muscles.

While she was in surgery, Steve and Tony went back to the tower to shower, change clothes and update the team while Harry remained in the waiting room having refused when both men had tried to convince him to go with them. Instead he used the time to call Louis, filling him in on everything the doctors had told them and getting updates on the status of the tour he was currently missing. They had 2 shows out of 6 to go in London when Harry had left, and those along with the Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham shows had all been postponed. Louis told Harry that they were rescheduling the shows for the week following the Sheffield shows that were originally slated to be the end of the tour. This left Harry with 2 weeks in New York before he needed to fly back, although Louis promised that if he needed longer, they would make it work.

The morning after her second surgery, Aurora was sitting up in hospital bed, checking social media on her phone, while Harry sat on the side of her bed with her and Tony and Steve sat against the nearby wall in the uncomfortable plastic chairs. They were interrupted when a nurse came in to start the paperwork for her discharge and Tony followed her out of the room. Once he was gone Steve announced that he was going to go get everyone coffee and he invited Harry to join him. At first, he had declined, arguing that he would stay with Aurora until she pushed him to go.

“I’ll be alright for 10 minutes while you get coffee H,” she said. “Go stretch your legs. Promise I’ll be here when you get back.”

Reluctantly Harry had agreed and followed Steve out of the room and down the hall.

The moment the door closed behind them; Aurora burst into tears. She’d been holding it in until that moment, knowing that if she cracked in front of any of the three men hovering over her, she would only cause them to worry and she knew that they had worried enough in the past few days to last a lifetime.

Aurora was crying softly when Tony walked back into the hospital room and at first, he didn’t say anything. He just sat down next to her on the bed and let her lean into him, his arms wrapping around her and holding her gently as she gasped for breath. By the time she pulled herself together, Tony’s eyes were shut, and he was humming softly, his lips pressed into her hair. 

“Every time I close my eyes, I’m back in the library,” she whispered, “and I feel like I can’t breathe, and my chest is so tight it feels like my heart’s about to burst.”

“Sounds like a panic attack,” Tony told his daughter. “I had them after the wormhole.”

“You did? How come I never knew?”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” he admitted, “and I was ashamed. I shouldn’t have been, but I was. I thought I should have been stronger, and I was scared to let you see me be weak.”

“What made them stop?” she asked, her voice barely more than a whisper but hope clear in her tone.

“It’s still there,” he admitted. “I’m not sure it will ever fully go away, but it got better when I talked about it. Wilson’s offered to help. You know he worked at Veteran Affairs back in DC helping soldiers with PTSD?”

“I’m not a soldier,” Aurora replied. 

“But you did experience something pretty traumatic.”

“You want me to talk to him, don’t you?”

“I want to help you get through this.”

“I don’t know how to talk about it. I don’t even want to think about it.”

“We don’t have to do anything right away,” Tony promised. “Let’s get you home first and then you can sit down with Sam and just see how it goes. Sound like a plan?”

She nodded in agreement, pressing her cheek back against his chest, finding comfort in the soft hum emanating from the Arc reactor lodged next to her ear. By the time Harry and Steve returned, Aurora was sleeping soundly, and Tony was reading up on PTSD treatments on his phone. Steve passed him a coffee, placing a kiss on to his temple before slipping into the seat next to him. Harry sunk into the empty seat on the other side of Rori’s hospital bed, pulling out his own phone to update the boys on Rori’s condition and letting them know that she was being discharged later that afternoon.

xXx

Aurora was relieved when Happy pulled the town car into the tower’s underground carpark and she let Harry help her out of the car and into the elevator. She leaned heavily against him as Tony and Steve joined them and the car slowly ascended to the penthouse apartment. She was exhausted and was grateful for Harry’s strong arms holding her up by the time the doors opened. They stepped out together and slowly made their way over to the nearby sofa. After helping her to ease herself down onto the cushions, Harry excused himself for a moment.

“I’m just gonna go grab something from my bag,” he announced heading off down the hallway to where his bag had been left in Aurora’s room. Tony helped Rori get herself comfortable on the sofa with her legs propped up on the edge of the coffee table and a small cushion placed between her arm and stomach to take the pressure off of her sutures. Steve pulled a soft blanket off the back of the sofa and draped it over her lap and when Harry returned to the living room, both Steve and Tony excused themselves, leaving the young couple alone.

“You get whatever you needed?” Rori asked her boyfriend, watching as he stepped up to stand between the coffee table and where she sat, but instead of sitting down next to her like she expected him to, he dropped down on one knee. Rori’s breath stuck in her throat as Harry held the ring box open in front of him, a soft smile stretching across his face, making his dimples pop and his eyes shine. 

“Aurora Louise Stark, I love you so much,” he began softly. “Loving you and being loved by you has made me the happiest and the luckiest man on earth. I’ve wanted to ask you this for so long now and I was waiting for us to be together again at Christmas to finally ask you, but things haven’t gone the way any of us expected. I spent 8 hours on a plane fearing that by the time I got here I’d be too late, and I just kept thinking that I couldn’t lose you. I couldn’t imagine my life without you, and I don’t ever want to find out what that would be like. I want to spend every minute of every day of the rest of our lives making sure you know how much I love you. Rori, will you marry me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you skipped the chapter the take away is that Aurora was shot and Harry left the tour to fly to NYC. Aurora's left hand is badly injured and will need multiple surgeries. Meanwhile Louis has coordinated a two week break for the band to give Harry time with Rori so they are rescheduling the last 2 London shows, the 2 Glasgow, 2 Manchester and 3 Birmingham shows for the start of November. The chapter ends with Aurora going back to the tower and Harry proposing to her.


	23. An Answer & the Aftermath: October 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my tumblr for fake instargram posts and spotify playlists https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist  
> Don’t forget to leave a comment :)

Aurora stared at Harry in shock. 

“Please say something,” he said after the silence had stretched on for a moment too long. 

She opened her mouth and then closed it again, not knowing what to say and then all of a sudden her eyes were filled with tears and Harry’s apprehensive expression turned to one of fear and concern as he quickly moved from kneeling in front of her to sit on the sofa beside her, pulling her against his chest. 

“I’m sorry,” Rori mumbled as she attempted to wipe her face clear. “I don’t know where that came from.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” Harry replied. “I shouldn’t have sprung that on you love, not after everything that’s happened. I’m the one that should be sorry. Forget I said anything.”

“I can’t forget it,” Rori said, pulling herself back from his hold to look at his face. “I don’t want to forget it. This last week has been so intense and I think I just got overwhelmed by it all. Ask me again.”

“What?”

“Ask me again,” Rori repeated, smiling back at him through her teary eyes. 

“Will you marry me?” he asked again, voice quiet and nervous, almost shy which was a term Rori had never used to describe the man she loved.

“Yes!” She cried out, throwing her right arm around him and pulling him into a deep kiss. “Yes. Yes. A million times yes.”

xXx

That evening the penthouse was full to the brim with all of the Avengers as well as Happy and Pepper crowded around the long tables that had been dragged into the room. The volume was loud, as it always was when everyone was together for a meal and the drinks were flowing, but especially tonight as the team had much to celebrate. Against all the odds, Aurora was alive and well and back home where she belonged, and as if that wasn’t enough Harry had finally proposed. There was much to celebrate, and Steve had happily spent much of the afternoon cooking up a great feast for everyone.

After the meal was long gone and the team were exchanging stories over empty glasses, Aurora excused herself to go to the bathroom. Harry began to worry when she’d been gone a little too long and went off in search of his fiancé. With JARVIS’ help, he found her in her art studio, sitting on the bench seat against the window staring out over Central Park and the setting sun.

“There you are,” he said softly, announcing his presence so as not to startle her. He made his way across the room, taking a seat beside her and reaching out to take her hand when she still didn’t turn away from the window. “You ok?” he asked, turning her hand over in his and smiling softly at the diamond ring settled there.

“Just needed a minute away from the noise,” Aurora whispered, finally turning to face him and showing him the silent tears rolling down her cheeks. “It was all just getting a bit much.”

Harry opened his arms in silent invitation, breathing a sigh of relief when she accepted, nestling against his chest as his arms wrapped around her protectively.

“We can stay here as long as you need,” Harry promised, kissing her hair as he felt her relaxing in his hold.

“It doesn’t feel real,” she whispered. “Like, I know I have the injuries to prove it, but I feel like I made it up. How could it be real? How could anyone do that?”

“I don’t know, love. I’ll never understand how someone could hurt so many people but I’m just grateful you’re still here.”

“Me too, but I feel guilty too,” she admitted. “Why did I survive? What made me more worthy than anyone else that day?”

“Nothing,” Harry answered, his voice tight as he fought back his own tears. “There was no rhyme or reason to why you made it and they didn’t, but I thank God you did. Rori I meant what I said this afternoon; I can’t live without you. I love you.”

“I love you too Harry. You were all I was thinking about.”

xXx

“Mind if I come in?”

Aurora looked up at the man leaning in the doorway to her bedroom, knocking gently on the exposed wood.

“Of course,” Aurora nodded. “Come in Sam.”

Harry stood up from where he’d been sitting beside Rori on her bed, kissing her on the temple before leaving the room and closing the door behind him, offering the pair some privacy for what was sure to be a difficult conversation. Aurora was propped up against the headboard with a mountain of pillows surrounding her and she gestured for Sam to take a seat on the bed beside her. He sat down near her knee and offered her a soft smile before speaking.

“Thought you might want to talk about what happened?” he said. “Promise nothing you tell me leaves this room. I won’t talk to Tony or Steve or Harry or anyone else about what you tell me.”

“I don’t really know what to say Sam,” Rori admitted. “I keep trying not to think about it.”

“I understand that,” Sam said. “Mind if I give you some advice?”

“Please.”

“The more you try to run from it, the harder it’ll hit when it catches up. You’ll have to face it eventually, so why not do it now?”

“I thought I was dying,” she whispered. “I was so convinced that I was done and then Pops was there, and somehow I was still alive. How am I supposed to get over that? I thought I’d never see my family again. That I’d never see Harry.”

“You don’t just get over it,” Sam replied. “You talk about how you felt, and you let the people around you help you.”

“I felt scared, and angry.”

“What made you angry?”

“That I was going to hurt them,” she admitted. “I knew how much it would destroy them if I died.”

“But you’re still here,” Sam reminded her. “You didn’t die, and they still have you here.”

“But what do I do now? The thought of going back to school makes me sick, and I might never play the piano again. What do I do with my life now?”

“How about we take it one day at a time? Don’t get yourself worked up about the maybes and just focus on putting one foot in front of the other.”

They sat in silence for a while as Aurora tried to organise her thoughts and absorb Sam’s advice.

“What does that look like for me?” she asked. “What is my next step?”

“Well I talked to your surgeon before you left the hospital the other day,” Sam replied, “and he said the abdominal and upper arm wounds should start to heal up in about 4-6 weeks and the clavicle and shoulder blade will take another 2 weeks after that. I’d say recovery is your next step. 2 months of healing and physical therapy. Once you heal up, we’ll focus on the hand and all the other stuff.”

“Recovery,” Rori echoed, nodding to herself at having a plan. “I can do that.”

“I know you can, and you know I’m here whenever you want to talk. Some days you’re gonna feel like everything’s good and then it’ll hit you out of nowhere. PTSD’s a bitch so don’t let it make you think you’re weak or that there’s something wrong with you, ok?”

“PTSD?” Aurora asked.

“Yeah kid,” Sam sighed. “I’d be shocked if you didn’t have it after what happened. It’s nothing to be ashamed off, but it won’t help you if we ignore it.”

“Right,” Rori agreed. “Thank you, Sam.”

“Don’t mention it,” Sam replied with a soft smile, patting her knee gently. “You’re family kid.”

xXx

Harry was instantly worried when he walked into the bathroom leading off Aurora's room a few days after her chat with Sam. He walked in to find her curled up on the tiles, her face red and blotchy, her chest heaving with her sobs. 

“Love, what happened?” He asked gently as he knelt down on the cold floor, pulling her up and into his arms. She didn’t reply at first, simply pushing herself closer against him as her breathing stuttered. 

“I was trying to brush my hair,” she eventually whispered. “And I dropped the brush and it was so loud when it hit the floor that I just freaked out. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Oh, beautiful there’s nothing wrong with you,” Harry murmured. He placed kisses across her hairline while his hand gently ran up and down her uninjured arm. “You’ve gone through something so horrific. It’s only natural for you to be on edge.”

She didn’t respond to his words, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he felt her body relaxing against his, the tension draining from her muscles. 

“I just keep waiting for you…” she said eventually. 

“Waiting for me to what, love?” he pressed when she left the sentence unfinished.

“To leave,” she choked out, barely louder than a breath.

“I’m not flying out for another few days,” he replied, not understanding what she was really confessing to. 

“No, I don’t mean leave for the tour. I mean leave me,” she continued, her voice quiet and full of fear. “I’m broken Harry. I might never be the same ever again and you deserve so much more than this.”

“Stop,” he said, his voice hard, leaving no room for debate. “Don’t you tell me what I deserve. I love you and I asked you to marry me because I want to spend the rest of our lives together. You are not broken Aurora. You’re a little battered and bruised but you could never break.”

“Sam says I have PTSD,” she admitted. 

“Sam’s probably right,” Harry replied. “He’s kind of our expert on that sort of thing.” 

“I don’t know how to get through this Harry.”

“You just need time, love,” he soothed. “It’s only been a week. You can’t be so hard on yourself. Talking with Sam seems to help, so keep doing that and I’ll speak to management about getting out of the interviews we’ve got scheduled for the rest of the year. I’ll finish out the shows and then come straight back.”

“No,” Rori argued, lifting herself away from his chest to frown at him. “No, you can’t do that. It’s only 3 more months until the start of the hiatus. I can hold myself together for 3 months. You need to finish this right for the fans, and for the boys, and for yourself. You all deserve to wrap this up the right way.”

“I don’t want to leave you alone when you need me most,” he admitted.

“I won’t be alone H. I’ve got Dad and Pops and the rest of the team. They’re not gonna let me fall. I know it won’t be easy but you’re right, I can do this.”

“I love you so much,” he sighed. “You know that, right?”

“I do,” Rori said, “and I love you too.”

xXx

The nightmares started the first night after Harry left to finish the tour. Aurora woke up screaming and JARVIS immediately alerted Tony and Steve, prompting them to rush to their daughters’ room. She was sitting up in the middle of her bed, drenched in sweat and sobbing in the darkness, her bed sheets tangled around her legs. At first, she jerked away from their hands, before realising who they were and throwing herself into Steve’s arms. Tony ran a gentle hand up and down her back as the pair attempted to sooth her.

“You didn’t get there in time,” she whispered through her gasps for breath. “You were too late.”

Steve felt himself stiffen as she described the same scenes that have kept him from sleep for the past 2 weeks. In his nightmares he hears her begging for her life but by the time he reaches the library she’s bled out on the carpet and he holds her while he cries, unable to save one of the 2 most important people in his life. Now sitting in her room, holding her while she cried, his heart broke to know that she had just dreamt the same horrifying scene.

“It’s just a dream,” Tony soothed from behind her. “It’s not real. You’re safe. It’s just a dream.” His hand continued to rub along her spine, avoiding her injured shoulder as he tried to calm her panicked breathes. “We’ve got you. You’re ok.”

Finally, after near an hour, Aurora drew quiet and sank into Steve’s embrace. Her breathing evened out as she fell asleep and he leant himself back against the headboard to get comfortable as she buried herself into his chest. The two men shared a meaningful look across their daughters’ head and then Steve closed his eyes, settling himself in for the rest of the night, his arms still wrapped around Rori’s body.

Tony eased himself off of the bed and made his way down the hall towards the kitchen, startled to find Sam sitting at the island bench with a mug of coffee in front of him. “Just made a fresh pot,” he said, gesturing the coffee machine nearby.

Tony busied himself pouring a cup before turning to face Sam. “What are you doing up?”

“JARVIS alerted me too, thought Aurora might need to talk,” Sam explained. “Or that you might.”

Tony let out a heavy sigh, collapsing into the chair next to Sam. “I don’t have any idea what to do,” he admitted.

“I think you’re already doing it,” Sam replied calmly. “You’re there when she needs you, reminding her that she’s not alone.”

“I expected the nightmares,” Tony admitted, “but I didn’t think they’d scare me that much.”

“Makes sense,” Sam agreed. “You’re a parent. It’s natural to want to protect your kid from everything but you can’t protect her from what’s in her head.”

“That kids been through so much in her life already, she doesn’t deserve this.”

“No, she doesn’t. By the sounds of it, tonight was worse,” Sam noted. “Probably because Harry’s not here.”

“God, he’s not due back until Christmas,” Tony sighed.

“We’ll get her through it,” Sam said. “It’s just not gonna be easy.”

“It never is.”


	24. Surprises: November 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Instagram posts for this chapter will be combined with the next chapter :) 
> 
> Don't forget to leave a comment if you're liking the series

Tears flooded her eyes, running down her face as she clicked through countless videos, each one breaking her heart more than the last. The tweets that accompanied the videos did nothing to stop her heart breaking. 

**> Harry crying while singing You & I because he’s thinking about Rori and how it’s her favourite song is killing me**

**> I’ve been seeing the videos of Harry crying at the last few shows and it’s genuinely breaking my heart. You can see how much he loves Rori and he just wants to be with her, but he’s got a job to do and it just hurts my heart. **

**> Harry crying = me crying**

**> can people stop posting videos of Harry bursting into tears on stage because my poor heart can take much more. **

Aurora was sobbing, gasping for breath when Steve rushed into her room, Tony a few steps behind him, JARVIS having alerted them once again to her emotional state moments earlier. 

“Baby what’s wrong?” Tony asked, both men crowding her from either side, their arms wrapping around her as they tried to calm her. “Is it your hand? Are you in pain? Do you need us to call a doctor?” 

At first, she couldn’t speak, still gasping for breath as she shook her head no, trying to answer her fathers panicked questions until slowly her hysteria died down enough for her to stammer out an explanation. 

“Fans,” she began, “fans have been posting videos from the last few shows and Harry’s a mess. He’s hurting and it’s my fault.”

She showed them a few of the clips while they both tried to assure her that none of it was her fault and that everything would be ok. 

“I need to go to him,” she told them. 

“You can’t baby, you’re still healing from surgery,” Tony replied. 

“I don’t care, I need to be there. He needs me,” Rori argued. “I’m already so much better than when he left last month. He needs to see I’m ok. It’s the only way he’ll stop beating himself up for not being here.”

“No,” Tony replied stubbornly. 

“I don’t need your permission,” Aurora reminded him, her stubborn tone matching her fathers, her determination drying her tears the way nothing else could have. “I’m going.”

“Tony she’s right,” Steve mumbled, causing his husband to level him with a glare. 

“Well of course you’d agree with her, Mr I’ll just crash this plane into the ice!”

“I’ll go with her and make sure she’s safe,” Steve continued, ignoring Tony’s snipe. “We’ll take the jet, go for a few days and then come straight back.”

“I’ll only agree if your surgeon signs off on it,” Tony conceded with a deep weary sigh.

xXx

Tony had been banking on the doctors agreeing with him that Aurora was nowhere near healed enough to be flying to another continent only a month after surgery, so he was fuming when they agreed that her abdominal incision was healing nicely, likewise her bicep injury was fine and both her clavicle and scapular were well on the way to mended. Aurora had smirked at him when the doctors had given her the all clear to travel, providing she take it easy and use the painkillers prescribed to her as needed. He had only ground his teeth together, clenching his jaw in annoyance, but knowing that he had no choice but to agree to the trip. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his daughter, or even Steve for that matter, it was that he knew she was a selfless person and even if she wasn’t up to the trip she would do anything for the people she loved and right now that meant flying to London to ensure Harry wasn’t blaming himself. Despite his objections, he drove the pair to the airport and hugged his daughter tightly on the tarmac before both she and Steve boarded the StarkJet.

xXx

Aurora had wanted to surprise both Harry and Louis with her arrival, so she had contacted Niall to help her organise everything and he sent a car to collect them from the airport. The blond Irishman bounded out of the back entry to the O2 Arena when the car pulled up, a bright grin lighting up his face as he opened the door and pulled Rori through the door and into his arms. “God, I missed you Darling,” he said as he hugged her tightly. “How you feeling?”

“Excited,” Rori replied, pulling back from the hug with a matching grin on her own face. “Missed you too, Ni.”

“Come on,” he chuckled, turning back towards the door, “let’s go make Harold cry.”

Aurora laughed loudly, letting him lead her into the venue, Steve following in their wake with a soft chuckle, glad to hear her laughter again after the last month. When they reached the green room, Liam saw them enter the room first and his eyes quickly flicked towards where Harry and Louis were chatting, facing away from the door. He smiled widely, running forward to quickly hug her, trying to remain quiet so as not to ruin the surprise and whispered in Rori’s ear. “So good to see you. I missed you.”

“Missed you too Liam,” Rori whispered back, returning his tight hug before pulling back and walking over towards her finance and their best friend. Niall had already walked over to them ahead of her and thrown his arms around their shoulders.

“So, lads,” he said, “second last show tonight. Thought I’d get you a surprise gift.”

“What on earth have you got planned Irish?” Louis asked sceptically.

“Oh, nothing much,” Niall shrugged, before turning both boys around to face Rori. “Just this!” he announced with a flourish.

“Aurora?” Harry gasped, frozen in place for a brief moment before quickly closing the distance between the two of them. He pulled her into his arms, cautious of her injuries, but desperate to hold have her as close as possible. She buried her head in his chest while he placed kisses to her hair. “God, I missed you,” he sighed. “Can’t believe you’re here.”

“I saw the fan videos,” she explained in a soft whisper. “I couldn’t sit at home, knowing that you needed me.”

“Always need you,” he murmured in reply.

“Quit hogging her mate,” Louis complained after a few minutes. “I want a hug too.”

Begrudgingly Harry let go of Aurora and allowed Louis to pull her into his arms.

“God it’s good to see you love,” Louis sighed, placing a kiss to her temple. “You gave us all quite the scare.”

“Missed you too Lou,” Rori replied. “Sorry I scared you.”

“I guess I’ll forgive you.”

As soon as Louis ended their hug, Aurora found Harry’s arm instantly around her waist and it remained there for most of the next 3 hours until the boys took to the stage. Aurora watched from side of stage, a huge grin on her face for the entire show, secure in the fact that she had made the right decision to be there as she watched Harry smiling and dancing across the stage. Gone was the haunting look from his face that had been present in every fan video from the previous shows and back was the man who loved performing more than anything else in the world.

Following the show, everyone headed back to the green room and drinks were flowing as they all just hung out. After a while, Steve decided to leave the kids to have their fun and made his way across the room to where Rori was sitting on Harry’s lap happily chatting with Louis while Harry was talking with a member of the crew.

“I’m gonna go back to the hotel bug,” Steve said after gaining his daughters attention. “Don’t stay up too late and if Dad asks, I never let you out of my sight.”

“I don’t think we’ll stay too much longer either,” Harry promised.

“See you in the morning kids,” Steve replied, hugging his daughter gently before leaving the room.

Not long after Steve left, Aurora was sitting with the 4 boys, Harry and Louis sitting on either side of her on a sofa, while Liam and Niall sat opposite them.

“So, I’ve had an idea for tomorrow night,” Louis announced. “Since it’s the last night of tour and Rori’s graced us with her presence, what if we pulled you out on stage with us love and you joined us for a song?”

“Lou…” Harry began, a warning tone in his voice.

“No,” Rori interrupted. “Tomorrow night is about you boys. It’s the last tour show and the night before the album drops. I don’t want to step on that.”

“But the album is just as much yours as it is ours,” Louis argued, pouting slightly as he threw his arm around his friend, a little drunk and feeling very sure of himself. “The fans’ll love it. We could do _If I Could Fly_.”

“I don’t know,” Rori said, looking to Harry hesitantly.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Liam added, Niall nodding along beside him with a giant grin on his face.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to love,” Harry murmured, worried that the boys were pressuring her into something she wasn’t ready for.

“It could be fun?” she replied, her voice lifting at the end as if in question, hesitant to seem like she was inserting herself into a moment that should be theirs.

“It’s decided then,” Louis announced. “We’re doing this! I’m thinking we slot it in after _Little White Lies_.”

“Ease up Lou,” Harry chuckled at his excitement. “How about we wait until the morning when we’re all sober to start planning anything out?”

“You’re such a bore, Harold,” Louis replied with a sigh.

20 minutes later, Harry found Rori and Louis sitting in the corner of the room with their heads together conspiratorially whispering and writing something down. When he peered over their shoulders, he saw that it was the lyrics for _If I Could Fly_ and they were working out the arrangement to add Aurora into the song.

“You too are impossible,” he said, causing them both to jump as if they were children caught stealing snacks.

Louis tried to smile innocently. “Not sure what you’re talking about mate.”

“Of course you don’t,” Harry chuckled. “It’s getting late, love,” he added, turning to face Rori. “And by the looks of it, tomorrow’s gonna be a busy one so what do you say we turn in?”

Aurora nodded a let Harry lead her out of the room.


	25. The last show of OTRA: November 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always please check out my tumblr for fake instargram posts and spotify playlists https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist
> 
> Don’t forget to leave a comment :)

Aurora walked off the stage after the sound check to find Steve glowering at the side of stage. “You ok Pops?” she asked.

“Your father is going to kill us,” Steve mumbled.

“He’ll get over it,” Aurora replied, smiling with excitement. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go work out what I’m going to wear.”

Steve watched his daughter walk away from him, his face softening at the skip in her step and he knew that no matter how angry Tony was going to be, it was worth it to see her excited about anything again. The smile on her face was worth it and he decided to wait to tell his husband until afterwards, when he would have videos and photos to help explain why she needed to do this.

Not long after the end of sound check, the boys’ families started arriving and soon the green room was crowded with people, voices rising above each other and plenty of hugs shared. Anne, Robin and Gemma were the last of the family members to arrive and after hugging each of the boys they were shocked to see Aurora and Steve amongst the small crowd.

Anne started tearing up as she wrapped her arms around Aurora. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Glad to be here too, Mumma,” Aurora replied with a soft smile, neither woman missing the double meaning in their words. Anne pulled back from the hug, grabbing the younger woman’s right hand to inspect the diamond ring with a smile a mile wide.

“Thank god that boy of mine finally plucked up the courage to ask you,” she said, her eyes darting over to where Harry was standing with his Steve, Gemma and Robin. “You make him so happy, love.”

“He makes me so happy too, Anne,” Rori promised. “I don’t know what I did to deserve him.”

“None of that,” Anne chided. “You both deserve to be happy and I’m just so glad you have each other. Couldn’t have asked for a better daughter-in-law.”

Aurora’s eyes started to well with tears in response to Anne’s kind words, and the two women hugged each other again before Robin came over to interrupt.

“Hello darling,” Robin greeted, hugging her tightly once she let go of Anne. “Congratulations,” he added, kissing her cheek and stepping back to wrap an arm around his wife.

“Thank you, Robin,” she said and then was distracted from the conversation when Gemma jogged across the room towards her.

“Thank you for coming to cheer him up,” Gemma whispered in Aurora’s ear. “I saw the videos online and hated how miserable he’s been.”

“Of course Gem,” Aurora replied. “I couldn’t stand it either.”

Harry joined them after a few minutes more of conversation, pulling Aurora against his chest with an arm slung low around her waist and they spent the rest of the afternoon before the show chatting with everyone and catching up. There was no sadness in this being the last show, and instead everyone was simply enjoying celebrating the last 5 years of friendships.

A section had been roped off at the front of the crowd for all the family member and Steve and Rori were in amongst them for most of the show. Steve found himself smiling at how much fun Aurora was having dancing with Louis and Harry’s sisters, and they were all singing along loudly as the boys whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Towards the end of the show, just before the boys started singing _Little White Lies_ , a security guard came to escort Aurora backstage. As the song came to an end there was a lull and while Harry stepped out towards the front of the stage to talk with the crowd, Louis went jogging off stage towards where Rori was now waiting in the wings.

“Hey love,” Louis greeted Rori with a huge smile. “You ready to do this?”

“Absolutely,” Rori grinned in response.

“Alright, we’ll let Harold finish his speech and then I’ll walk out there with you. Sound like a plan?”

Aurora nodded and ran her right hand over the white blouse she was wearing, smoothing it out. She’d taken off the sling, while her hand remained in its bulky brace and tucked against her ribs to keep her shoulder or collarbone from hurting. She took a deep breath and turned back towards the stage to watch as the crew set up 5 mic stands in front of 5 stools and Harry’s voice filled the arena.

“How’s everyone doing tonight?” Harry asked, causing the crowd to roar in response. Harry chuckled before continuing, trying to soak up the feeling of being in front of such a large crowd, knowing it would be a while before he’d get to do this again. “Well I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for spending your Tuesday night with us, and for being so incredibly supportive of everything we’ve done over the last 5 years. I know we were all meant to be here last month, and I just wanted to take a minute to thank each and every one of you for be so understanding and letting me drop everything to fly to New York. I love you all. The lads and I were talking last night, and we thought you deserved something special to say thank you, so we thought we’d add in an extra song tonight off the new album that’s out tomorrow.” Harry had to pause his speech as the crowd screamed with excitement, having already noted the extra mic stand and stool behind him they were anticipating his next words. “We’re gonna need some extra help with it though so I want you to give a warm welcome to our special guest.”

Louis grinned excitedly and held out his hand for Auroras. She laced their fingers together and they walked out onto the stage together, the sound of the crowd overwhelming loud. They both joined Liam and Niall who had already taken their seats behind the mic stands and Harry skipped his way back towards them all. “My wonderful girlfriend, Aurora Stark!” he yelled, winking at Rori as he took his seat next to her in the middle of the 5 of them. “This one’s called _If I Could Fly_.”

Given that no one in the crowd knew the lyrics, they instantly fell silent as the opening notes of the piano played out through the arena and Harry began to sing.

[Harry, _Liam_ , Niall, _Louis_ , **Aurora** , **_All of them_** ]

If I could fly   
I'd be coming right back home to you  
I think I might give up everything, just ask me to  
 _Pay attention, I hope that you listen  
Cause I let my guard down  
Right now I'm completely defenceless_  
  
 **For your eyes only, I show you my heart  
For when you're lonely and forget who you are  
I'm missing half of me when we're apart  
Now you know me, for your eyes only  
For your eyes only**  
  
 _I've got scars, even though they can't always be seen  
And pain gets hard, but now you're here and I don't feel a thing_  
Pay attention, I hope that you listen cause I let my guard down  
Right now I'm completely defenceless  
  
 ** _For your eyes only, I show you my heart  
For when you're lonely and forget who you are  
I'm missing half of me when we're apart  
Now you know me, for your eyes only  
For your eyes only_**  
  
 _I can feel your heart inside of mine_  
 **(I feel it, I feel it)**  
I've been going out of my mind  
 **(I feel it, I feel it)**  
Know that I'm just wasting time  
And I  
  
Hope that you don't run from me  
 _For your eyes only,_  
I show you my heart  
For when you're lonely  
 _And forget who you are_  
  
 **I'm missing half of me**  
 ** _When we're apart  
Now you know me, for your eyes only  
For your eyes only, I show you my heart  
For when you're lonely and forget who you are  
I'm missing half of me when we're apart  
Now you know me, for your eyes only_**  
 **For your eyes only**  
For your eyes only

As they sang, the large centre screen filled with footage of the 5 of them writing _Made in the A.M_. Aurora had already watched it through when it was tested out during sound check and she was so impressed with the production team. They’d only been notified of the change at 9am that day and had turned around an entire visual segment in only a few hours. Aurora had edited her demo of the song that she and Harry had recorded over the summer and had been waiting to post it early next year, but she sent it to the team and let them use the footage. She’d smiled sadly as she watched it back early in the day, watching herself playing the piano and laughing so easily with the boys, a bittersweet tinge to the otherwise happy memories.

As the song finished, the crowd, who had remained quiet throughout the performance erupted into cheers and screams. She smiled wide, her eyes glistening with tears as she looked out across the sea of fans, all screaming for the boys. Harry kissed her on the cheek and Louis gave her a quick hug before she left the stage and the crew quickly removed the stools. The opening bars of _Perfect_ boomed through the speakers as she was ushered back to where the rest of the families were still standing in their roped off area.

Anne swept her into a hug immediately. “That was incredible sweetheart.”

“Thank you, Mumma,” Rori replied, blushing slightly when Anne kissed her cheek and ran her hand along her right arm. “You and Harry wrote that together?”

“We did,” Rori nodded. “Couldn’t sleep one night and we just stayed up in the studio throwing ideas around and that came out.”

“Well it’s beautiful,” Anne smiled. “You should both be very proud of it.”

Aurora smiled brightly, turning back to face the stage, Anne’s arms still wrapped around her as they stood side by side. Towards the end of the song, Harry passed by their section of the crowd and after spotting them together he blew a kiss, happy beyond words to see his mum holding onto his girl and keeping her safe.

xXx

In the end, neither Steve nor Aurora had the chance to tell Tony about her going on stage before he saw it plastered across the internet. After a couple of fans tweeted about it, every gossip site or trashy news paper like the Daily Mail was running with the story. The boys were busy all day with multiple radio interviews for the release day of _Made in the A.M_ but they all headed out for dinner to celebrate the album and to finally be able to celebrate Harry and Aurora’s engagement now that they were both in London together again. They were halfway through the entrée when Steve’s phone rang, Tony’s name flashing across the screen.

“What part of take it easy translates to an arena performance for you?” he yelled when Steve answered the phone.

“Tony…” Steve sighed, sharing a look with his daughter. “You need to calm down and let me explain.”

Aurora cringed, mouthing an apology to her father who waved it off before standing and leaving the room, knowing that his husband would want to yell and rant for a bit first before he was ready to listen to reason.

“I better go help put out the fire,” Aurora muttered to Harry before leaving the table. She followed Steve out of the dining area and into a service corridor. He was pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger as Tony yelled through the phone.

“May I?” she asked softly, holding out her hand for the phone. Steve paused, looking at her for a moment before sighing and handing the phone over. Tony continued his rant, unaware that his audience had changed until his daughter cut him off mid-sentence. “Stop!” she said firmly. “I was sitting on a bloody stool the whole time, it’s not like I did a fully choreographed routine.”

“You said you were just going there to cheer Harry up and then you were coming home,” Tony reminded her accusingly. “There was no mention of performing.”

“Because it was a last minute idea,” Rori said. “Besides, I had fun dad. For the first time in weeks I had fun, so don’t you dare ruin this for me.”

Tony fell silent, all the wind taken out of his argument.

“Now Pops and I were in the middle of a very fancy celebratory dinner with the lads so I’m going to hang up the phone now and we’re gonna go back to that. I’m sure Pops will call you back when we get back to the hotel later. I love you.”

“I love you too kiddo,” Tony sighed, wishing for the millionth time that his daughter had not inherited his stubbornness. “Enjoy your dinner, and I’ll meet you at the airport when you land tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”


	26. Auroras continued recovery: November 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my tumblr for fake instargram posts and spotify playlists https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist
> 
> Don’t forget to leave a comment :)

Aurora stepped into her father’s workshop a few days after returning from London, kindly asking JARVIS to turn down the deafeningly loud music. Tony head snapped up from the project he was absorbed in, his eyes meeting with his daughters across the workshop.

“Any chance you’re done being mad at me yet?” she asked.

“I was never mad at you, kiddo,” Tony sighed.

“You sure about that, because you did quite a lot of yelling the other day and then you’ve been in here all the time like you’re avoiding me?”

“Ok, you’re right I was mad,” Tony chuckled. “But I wasn’t mad at you.”

“You shouldn’t blame Pops for my choices,” Aurora said, finally crossing the room to stand in front of him.

“Not mad at Steve either,” Tony refuted.

“Then I’m confused,” Aurora laughed. “Mind explaining that?”

“You’re my little girl,” Tony sighed, taking her hand and leading her over to sit down on the sofa. “I know you were a fully functioning 16 year old by the time you showed up in my life, but in my head, you’re always going to be my little girl and I’m supposed to protect you.”

“Dad…” Aurora replied, tears forming in her eyes.

“No, I need to say this,” Tony interrupted. “I’m Iron Man. It’s literally my job to protect people and I couldn’t protect you. I love you Aurora, more than I thought it was possible to love another person and when I saw you bleeding out in Steve’s arms, I thought I was going to lose you and I couldn’t breathe. Somehow, I got a second chance to keep you safe and the only way I know how to do that is to keep you close. I’m so sorry I yelled at you, kiddo.”

By the time Tony finished his confession, Aurora was crying, and she leant forward so that he could wrap his arms around her and hold her tightly against him.

“I love you too, Dad,” she whispered. “But you can’t keep me wrapped up in cottonwool for the rest of my life. I got given another chance, I have to use it.”

“Ok,” Tony agreed. “I’ll try to stop controlling everything.”

“I think it’s a Dads job to worry, so I don’t think you’re doing too bad,” Rori said, still leaning against his chest. “Just maybe dial it back a bit.”

“I can do that,” Tony chuckled. “Any idea how you’re gonna use this second chance?”

“Third,” she mumbled.

“What?”

“Technically this is my third chance,” Aurora explained. “My second chance was when mum died and I survived. This is technically my third chance.”

“You know if you want to convince me to stop be so overbearing maybe don’t remind me of the other time you almost died.

“Sorry.”

“It’s ok,” he replied. “Let me rephrase then; Any idea how you’re gonna use this third chance?”

“Not really,” she sighed. “Sam has me working on this one step at a time thing, so I’m not really looking too far ahead at this point.”

“What’s the current step?”

“Healing, but I’ve actually been thinking about how I’d maybe like to do something to help the survivors,” she said, finally pulling back from the hug to look at Tony.

“Well we already set up something with the Maria Stark Foundation to help cover the medical costs of the survivors and pay for the victims funerals,” Tony replied.

“You did?” Aurora asked. “I didn’t know that.”

“You had a lot on your plate kiddo,” Tony explained, running his hand through her hair. “Steve and I were pretty sure it’s what you would have wanted us to do.”

“Thank you,” she gasped, trying not to cry again. “God damn it. I feel like all I ever do these days is cry.”

Tony chuckled at her frustration. “I think you’ve got a pretty good excuse,” he said. “Not that there’s anything wrong with having a good cry when it’s needed.”

“God, I love you,” Aurora replied, kissing Tony’s cheek and returning her head to lean against his chest, her cheek resting beside the Arc reactor again.

“I love you too Rori,” Tony murmured, kissing her head and giving her a gentle squeeze.

xXx

“Miss Stark, Mark Hill is on his way up to see you,” JARVIS announced.

Aurora was sitting in the living room, binge watching Community with Thor and Bucky and turned in her seat as the elevator doors open and Mark walked out. “Hey Mark,” she greeted happily. “Sorry boys,” she added, turning back to Thor and Bucky, “Gonna have to bale on you. Fill me in when I get back.” She got up from the sofa and walked over to Mark who pulled her in for a hug. After the hug, they walked down the hall towards a sitting room far enough away from the living room to offer the pair some privacy.

“Sorry to interrupt your afternoon,” Mark said when they took a seat. “Probably should have called ahead.”

“Don’t be silly,” Aurora replied. “I’m getting so bored around here, it’s nice to have an unexpected visit. Besides, you know I always love seeing you Mark.”

“I figured it was probably about time we sat down and worked out a game plan,” he explained. “I spoke with your dads after everything happened and we all decided you didn’t need to be thinking about any of this immediately, so I just put a pause on everything. I hope that was the right call.”

“Mark I can’t thank you enough,” Rori said. “I honestly wouldn’t have been able to handle any of this in those first few week so thank you.”

“All god hon,” Mark replied. “Honestly you weren’t that busy so there wasn’t that much to cancel. There’s a few requests on songs that I’ll need to get you to sign off on and I got a request for your Avengers series to be shown in a gallery out in LA. Other than that, we just had the CMAs which the Rascal Flatts guys were completely understanding about you not being able to make it.”

“I feel so bad that they had to change their performance because of me, especially since I went and sang in London less than 2 weeks later.”

“I spoke to them and I really don’t think you have anything to feel bad about.” Mark reached out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder before he continued. “You’re the only one who gets to decide how you handle this Rori. No one else gets to decide for you or tell you what the right way to process everything is.”

“Thank you, Mark. I think I needed to hear that today.”

“You got it sweetheart,” he said. “So, what’s the plan then?”

“Well I’ve got another surgery coming up next week, but the doctors are talking about another 3 or 4 surgeries early next year so it’s gonna be a while till I’m back in the studio, but maybe we can start by dealing with the requests you said you already have.”

“We can do that,” he smiled. “I’ll send you through what we’ve got, and you can just email me your thoughts. What about the gallery in LA? How you feeling about showing the series again?”

“I think I’d really like to do that.”

“I’ll set it up.”

“And could you get me the contacts for Rascal Flatts?” Rori asked. “I’d like to talk to them, and just apologize again and maybe discuss doing something next year for their album release maybe.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Mark scrawled down his notes and then stood up. “I’ll head back to the office and get a start on all of this. Keep me in the loop with everything and if you change your mind about doing interviews, I’ve still got just about every talk show in the country asking for you.”

“Yeah, I’m not ready for that yet,” Rori replied, also getting to her feet to hug him. “Let me walk you out though.”

xXx

Aurora took a deep breath to steady her racing heart. She was sitting up in a hospital bed, a paper thing gown covering her as a nurse stood next to her unstrapping the heaving bracing on her left hand. Tony held her other hand as they both watched the nurse remove the bracing, revealing the spiderwebs of scarring across the back of her hand, wrist and forearm. Rori gasped as her eyes traced the angry red scars, and her eyes teared up a little. Tony squeezed her other hand tighter and the nurse grabbed a pillow for her to rest the injured hand on and then left the room.

“You doing ok?” Tony asked softly.

“Just looks a lot worse than I thought it would,” Rori replied. “And they’re gonna slice into me again and again and it’s just going to look worse each time.”

“Hey,” Tony said, placing a hand under her chin to lift her eyes to meet his. “One step at a time, remember? Now just breath with me.”

Aurora nodded quickly and focused on the rise and fall of her fathers’ chest to match her own breathes to his. By the time she calmed down, the nurse returned and began to wheel Aurora from the room and down the hall towards the OR.

When she awoke from the anaesthetic, Tony was sitting beside her bed once again, his hand wrapped around her hand, the other sweeping her hair off her brow.

“Welcome back,” he murmured. “How you feeling.”

“Groggy,” Rori mumbled.

“Doc said the surgery went really well. They want to keep you in for a few hours until the anaesthetics completely out of your system and then we can go home.”

“Mind if I nap until then?” she asked, her eyes already slipping closed.

“Sleep kiddo,” Tony whispered, leaning forward to kiss her temple. “I’ll wake you when it’s time to go home.”

xXx

“Dad, Pops, mind if I interrupt?” Aurora asked, walking into the kitchen where Steve was cooking dinner and Tony was attempting to help, but really was just being a nuisance.

“Course, kiddo,” Tony replied. “What’s up?”

“Umm,” she began, nervously looking between the two men. “I just wanted to remind you that the boys are giving their final performance next weekend in London.”

“And?” Tony asked, his brow furrowing.

“And I’m going to fly over for it,” Rori explained. “Just wanted to let you know before I book my flights.”

“When are you thinking of flying out? I think I have a meeting Monday morning, but I can move that around,” Tony said, already pulling his phone out to look at his calendar.

“No dad,” Rori said, biting her bottom lip nervously. “I’m going on my own.”

“Like hell you are,” Tony replied, his head jerking up suddenly to stare at his daughter. Steve remained silent but prepared to play his usual role of peacekeeper between the two of them.

“Remember that conversation we had a few weeks ago?” Rori asked. “You know the one where you promised to try and stop controlling everything? If the shooting hadn’t happened, you wouldn’t have had any problem with me flying out for this show on my own.”

“But the shooting did happen, and you just had surgery last week,” Tony bit back, his voice starting to rise.

“I’m going to be in and out of surgery for months,” she replied, keeping her voice soft and level in an attempt to keep this from turning into a fight. “I can’t put my life on hold because of it. Everything else is healed and I asked Dr Walker about it before I came home. She agreed that it’s perfectly safe for me to go about my day as normally as possible as long as I keep the brace on and take pain killers when I need them. I need to start living my life again Dad.”

“Ok,” Tony sighed, still not happy with the idea, but recognising that he would not win this fight. “Will you at least take the Jet please?”

“That I can do,” Rori said with a soft smile. “Thank you.”

“I love you, kiddo,” Tony sighed. “You know I’m just worried about you.”

“I know dad and I love you for it.”


	27. The X Factor finale: December 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW/TW: This chapter is going to describe Aurora's scars
> 
> Check out my tumblr for fake instargram posts and spotify playlists https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist
> 
> Don’t forget to leave a comment :)

Harry was surprised when he saw Aurora again in London the afternoon of the band's final performance on the X factor. He hadn’t expected her to still be sticking to the plans they had made months ago given that she had already flown out for the end of the tour the previous month. He quickly got over his surprise and rushed over to greet her, taking her in. While her hand was still strapped into a heavy brace and probably would be for many months to come, the sling was gone, and he could tell by the way she held yourself that the rest of her injuries had healed in the 2 and a half months since the shooting. Her long black hair was loosely curled and cascading over her shoulder and down her back, and she was wearing his favourite colour on her, a navy blue ¾ sleeved, form fitted dress that hugged her curves and ended just above her knees. He smiled widely as he pulled her into a tight embrace, letting her go only enough for their lips to meet. 

“I can’t believe you’re here,” he murmured against her lips, his hands resting on her hips.

“Well I don’t know if you know this,” she giggled, “but my favourite band is performing tonight and it’s their last gig for 18months so I couldn’t miss it.”

“Your favourite band is here?” Harry joked. “Anyone I’ve heard of?”

“Oh no, you’re probably way too cool to be into them,” Rori chuckled. “And there’s this one guy in the band that I’ve got such a thing for.”

“I swear to god if you say Liam right now, I’m gonna need that ring back.”

Aurora broke into a fit of laughter at that, her head falling forward to rest against his shoulder as she gasped for breath. 

“I love you,” Harry murmured once her laughter died to down to quiet chuckles. “You look so beautiful. This dress is incredible.”

“Thank you,” Rori blushed. “I love you too and this suit; Wow.”

She stepped back from his grasp to look him up and down, taking in the bright red floral pants and black button up. 

“It’s got a matching jacket too,” Harry grinned, holding out his arms and giving a twirl. “I’m so happy you’re here for this Rors. When are you going to stop surprising me like this?”

“When your reaction stops being this good,” Rori chuckled, leaning up on the toes of her stilettos to kiss him again.

“I thought I recognized that laugh!” Louis shouted, jogging down the hallway towards the couple, wrapping his arms around Aurora’s waist and lifting her into the air. She laughed as he spun them around. “Missed you love.”

“Missed you too Lou,” Rori replied. 

He led her over to some seats nearby and the three of them sat down. 

“How you feeling love?” Louis asked watching with a soft smile the way she leaned into Harry’s side and he instantly wrapped his arm around her shoulder. 

“Way better Lou. Had another surgery on my hand 2 weeks ago but everything else has healed up nicely. 

“How’s the hand feeling?” Louis asked. 

“Pretty much the same,” Rori replies, the smile on her face slipping for a moment. “The doctors have already got another 3 surgeries planned for the start of next year.” Harry rubbed his hand along her shoulder, the other grasping her hand and interlocking their fingers. She squeezed his hand in silent thanks and lent more heavily into his side. 

“Just gotta keep taking it one step at a time,” she said, echoing the phrase Sam repeated often during their chats. “And today’s step is to enjoy watching you boys perform, and then finally getting to take this one home with me.”

Harry kissed her temple. “Can’t wait.”

An hour before the show was set to start, the boys’ families started to arrive, coming first backstage to wish them all good luck and then heading out to take their seats in the audience. Aurora hugged each of Louis’ sisters when they arrived, before his mother pulled her aside.

Jay wrapped her arms around Aurora and hugged her tightly. “It’s so good to see you again Darling. You’re looking more yourself then when I saw you last month.”

“Good to see you too Jay, and I’m feeling more myself.” She smiled brightly back at the older woman. “Feels good to be back with the lads.”

“They missed you too, you know,” Jay chuckled. “Louis never shuts up about you and the way Harry pouts when he sees the other boys with their girls is honestly adorable.”

“He pouts?” Rori laughed, her heart swelling to know that her boyfriend and unofficial big brother had missed her while she was home recovering.

“Often!” Jay replied, joining in with Rori’s laughter and drawing Louis attention away from his sisters.

“Should I be worried about what’s going on over here?” he asked, wrapping and arm around their shoulders.

“Not at all,” Rori said, a smile still stretching across her face. “Your mum was just filling me in on how much you and Harry missed me.”

“Well she’s not wrong,” Louis replied, blushing slightly. “Can’t speak for Harold but I know I always miss my partner in crime when you leave tour to go home. More fun pranking the lads when I’ve got an accomplice.”

“Miss you when I go home too Lou,” Rori promised. “Life’s too boring without my big brother around.”

Jay watched the two with tears in her eyes, always emotional to see the family her eldest had built for himself amongst the band and their families. She knew that the hiatus would be good for them all and looked forward to having her only son home more, but she found herself feeling a little sad they wouldn’t all be spending as much time together over the next year and a half.

“Oh, Harry’s family just got here,” Rori said, breaking through Jay’s thoughts. “I better go say hi.”

“I’ll come with you love,” Louis replied, holding out his arm for her and he led her over to where Harry was hugging Anne, Robin and Gemma.

They stood around chatting for a little while before Anne looked at her watch and decided that they should go find their seats and say hello to the other parents before the show starts.

“I’ll join to in a minute,” Rori said when Anne asked her if she was coming with them. “Just waiting on one more person. Save me 2 seats next you?”

“Sure thing, love,” Anne smiled, kissing Harry’s cheek before she left with one last wish of good luck.

A few moments later, Ella arrived, her excitement clear from the moment she walked in the room. “Rori!” she shouted, launching herself into her best friends’ arms. “God, I missed you babe!”

“Missed you too El,” Rori replied, gripping tightly to the energetic blonde.

“Can you believe we’re back here again?” Ella asked. “5 years later and this time we’re backstage.”

“I always forget you girls came to see us on the show back in the day,” Harry chuckled when he walked back over to them. “Good to see you again Ella,” he added before hugging her. “Shows about to start in a few minutes ladies so you better go grab your seats.”

Aurora pulled him in for a quick kiss, tucking one of his curls back into place and wished him good luck one last before taking Ella’s hand and heading towards where Anne had saved their seats for them.   
The show opened not long after the girls took their seats and within a few minutes the judges were introduced and Aurora and Ella were standing up in their seats, cheering along with the rest of the crowd, whistling and hollering extra loud at Nick’s introduction.   
The finalists performed first to open the show, then they went to an ad break and Ella immediately turned in her seat to face Aurora. “Thanks again for inviting me along Rori,” she said.

“Are you kidding me?” Rori laughed. “Like I was gonna let you miss this! We’ve been fans from the very start, I was not gonna watch their last show before the hiatus without you.”

“It’s kind of insane how much everything’s changed in the last 5 years, isn’t it? I mean you and Harry are engaged!”

“I know,” Rori giggled. “It doesn’t seem real when I think about it like that.”

“I’m really happy for you,” Ella said.

“Thanks, El,” Rori replied, smiling brightly back at her best friend as the show returned from the ad break.

They fell quiet as Caroline and Ollie returned to the stage and danced in their seats as Coldplay performed, followed by the two finalists with their winners songs. Before long the hosts were introducing the boys to the stage and the crowd went mad.

They sang _Infinity_ first and Aurora screamed along with the rest of the audience, her arm slung around Ella’s shoulders. When the song ended, a video package of well wishes for the hiatus played on the screens. In amongst the video messages from the likes of David Beckham, 5sos and Little Mix, Aurora’s own face appeared on the screen.

“Thank you so much for the last 5 years boys,” she said in the video. “You have reached so many people and your music has been the soundtrack of so many people’s lives . I love you all so much. Please don’t take too long to find your way back to each other. The world’s a better place with you by each other’s sides.”

Following the well wishes and goodbyes, the boys performed _History_ and then before Aurora could really believe it was all over, the song ended, and the boys pulled each other into a group hug. She let a few tears drip down her cheeks as she watched them take in the screams of their fans one last time and then it was done, and they made their way off the stage. The rest of the show passed by in a blur and Aurora didn’t even really get to enjoy Adele’s performance as she was so eager to get backstage with the lads. As soon as the cameras were off, Aurora, Ella and the rest of the families were quickly escorted backstage by security and led into the boys dressing room. Aurora hugged each of them, first Liam then Niall, she clung to Louis for a long time and then he passed her off to Harry who squeezed her tight, dipping his head to bury his face in the crook of her neck and she felt her skin damp with his tears. She didn’t say anything, instead holding him a little tighter while he pulled himself back together. 

xXx

Everything was crazy following the end of the show and after an hour or so they all made their way to the after party, saying goodbye to the parents and the younger siblings first.

The music was pumping and while the boys were chatting with people, Rori pulled Ella and Lottie out onto the dance floor. At some point a few songs later, Harry looked out onto the dance floor, smiling as he took in Aurora’s face lit up with laughter as she danced with her friends. Louis’ eyes followed Harry’s to where Rori was dancing with his sister and Ella.

“Good to see her laughing again, hey lad?” he asked.

“God there’s nothing better,” Harry agreed, only peeling his eyes away from his girl when they were joined by another exec wanting to wish them well.

A few songs later, Aurora made her way off the dancefloor, exhausted but ecstatic and wound her way through the crowd towards Harry and Louis.

“Hey babe,” he said when she wrapped her arm around his waist. “Having fun?”

“I am,” she grinned. “Sorry to interrupt, but I’m just heading to the bar for a drink and I was wondering if you needed a refill?”

“I’m good,” Harry replied, kissing her temple. “But come back here once you get yours. Miss you.”

She chuckled, leaning up to kiss his cheek before disappearing into the crowd. She returned after a while, a glass of water in hand and Harry’s arm darted out to pull her against his side as soon as she reappeared. She rested her head against his shoulder, secure against him as the conversation swelled around her.

She stayed by his side as he chatted with people for the better part of an hour, occasionally joining in on his conversations when she knew the person, or sometimes holding her own conversation with someone else. Louis was never far from her side, enjoying hanging out with his bestie. After a while Simon Cowell arrived at the party and made his way over towards the three of them.

“Boys, what a performance,” he said when he reached them. “Are you sure you don’t want to change your mind and tour the new album?”

“Nah I think we’re still good with taking a break,” Louis replied, trying not to roll his eyes.

“Simon, this is my girlfriend Aurora,” Harry said, attempting to avoid Louis saying something he shouldn’t.

“Of course,” Simon replied, reaching out to hug her. “A pleasure to meet you darling. I’ve heard great things about you.”

“Thank you,” Rori blushed. “I’m a big fan of the show.”

“Oh, thank you,” Simon replied. “Maybe one day I’ll have you on, we love to keep it in the family and these boys are like my sons.”

“I’d love that,” Aurora replied while the boys both tried not to sigh at his comments. “You know I always dreamed of auditioning when I was kid.”

“You would have won for sure, love,” Harry said, squeezing her waist. “But if you’ll excuse us Simon, we’ve got plenty of people still to say hi to.”

“Of course, go enjoy your night.”

xXx

Following the afterparty, Aurora ordered an Uber for Ella and then headed back to Harry’s place with him. As soon as they got inside, she kicked off her heels, leaving them in the entry hall and squealed when Harry scooped her up in his arms, carrying her upstairs to his bedroom. He set her back down on her feet once they made it into his room and attached his mouth to hers in a desperate kiss.

She kissed him deeply, his hand reaching for the zipper at the back of her dress, but when he started to pull it down Aurora froze in his arms and pulled away from the kiss.

“Harry wait,” she gasped, causing Harry’s hands to freeze.

“I’m sorry love,” he said, his hands falling from the zipper. “Are you not ready?”

“No, it’s not that.” She shook her head, taking a breath before she explained. “You haven’t seen me without the bandages and there’s a lot of scar tissue.”

“If you’re not ready for me to see that, we don’t have to do anything tonight,” he murmured, ever the gentleman she fell in love with.

“I want to show you Harry,” she whispered, “but no one outside my medical team has seen it yet and it’s just a lot. I’m scared.”

“How about we take it slow?” Harry suggested, his hands returning to the zipper while his eyes locked with hers. She nodded and he slowly lowered the zipper until the dress fell off her shoulder. As the navy blue material slid aside, Harry’s eyes roamed over the exposed skin, a long thin scar followed the curve of her collarbone for about 6 or 7cm leading up to a sunken divot in her shoulder, no bigger than a dime. He lent forward to gently press his lips to the edge of the now healed wound and Aurora shivered. “Is this ok?” he murmured against her skin.

“Yes,” she whispered in reply, her voice shaking, and her right hand moved to his shoulder to steady herself.

“Can I keep going?” he asked, needing to hear her tell him.

“Yes, Harry,” she gasped, trembling slightly in his arms. “Don’t stop.”

His lips traced the wounds before his hands returned to the zip, pulling it down the rest of the way until the dress fell to the floor, leaving Aurora standing in only her bra and panties. He dropped to his knees in front of her, his fingers tracing along the scar above her left hip, his mouth following their path. He heard Rori suck in an unstable breath and looked up at her. Silent tears were rolling down her face as she looked down at him and in an instant, he was standing with her face cradled in his shoulder, one hand stroking calmly along her spine while the other held her head to him.

“I’m sorry love,” he murmured softly. “Did I hurt you? Did I make you uncomfortable? I’m sorry.”

She left her face pressed into his neck, his long hair falling over her as she replied. “You didn’t do anything wrong Harry. I just wasn’t expecting…”

“Weren’t expecting what my love?” he asked.

“For you to still look at me like I’m beautiful,” she confessed, her blushing cheeks hidden from him by his hair.

“Oh love,” he sighed, walking them both over to the bed until he was sitting down with her curled in his lap. “You are beautiful,” he promised. “Do you want to know what I see when I look at these scars?” Aurora lifted her face away from him to look into his eyes. “I see how incredibly strong you are.” He leant forward to kiss her shoulder again, his hands trailing to rest against her hips. “I see how lucky I am to still be able to hold you.” Another kiss, closer to her neck. “I see how hard you fought.” A kiss where her shoulder met her neck. “I see how much I love you.”

“Harry,” Aurora gasped, placing her hands on either side of his face and pulling his head up to kiss him desperately. “I love you too. I’m the lucky one.”

“Let’s agree that we’re both lucky?” He chuckled against her lips. “Now shush. No more talking, just let me show you how much I missed you.”


	28. Christmas & New Year’s in NYC: December 2015

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Check out my tumblr for fake instargram posts and spotify playlists https://abundanceofsoph.tumblr.com/post/621613699259629569/skyfire-masterlist
> 
> Don’t forget to leave a comment :)

Instead of splitting up for Christmas or trying to decide which family they should spend the holidays with, Aurora and Harry decided to invite Harry’s family out to New York so they could all spend Christmas together. Gemma and Robin’s kids all decided to go to their partners families so Anne and Robin were happy to fly out to them.

Harry flew back to New York with Rori on the 16th after the X Factor show and the couple spent the week leading up to Christmas finishing the decorations around the penthouse, watching sappy Christmas themed romcoms and going ice skating in Central Park.

Anne and Robin flew in on the 23rd and in an attempt to avoid the paparazzi, Happy picked them up from the airport and brought them to the tower. Once they arrived, Anne pulled Harry into a tight hug while Robin went to greet Aurora. After dropping their bags in one of the guest rooms they all headed for the kitchen where Steve was cooking dinner for everyone. It was a casual night in, just Harry, Aurora and their parents with the rest of the Avengers having dinner on another floor to give them some time with Anne and Robin. Once dinner was finished and the dishes were cleared, they all moved into the living room to watch a movie and stayed up late into the night sharing stories of Christmases past. Aurora always loved when Anne would tell stories from when Harry was little, and he would bury his face in her shoulder as he blushed in embarrassment. Steve entertained them all with stories of Christmases in the 1920s and Aurora shared a few tales from her own childhood. The large pine tree in the corner provided the room a soft glow as they chatted, and the large wall of windows looking out over the city provided a beautiful backdrop. Aurora nuzzled into Harry’s chest as conversation flowed until she finally dropped off to sleep. Everyone took that as a sign to turn in for the night and Harry gently lifted Rori into his arms and carried her to bed.

xXx

Harry had spent the morning of Christmas Eve taking Anne and Robin to the holiday market in Union Square. He was happy to spend time with his mum and stepdad, but also wanted to be able to give Aurora her space, knowing that December 24th was always an emotional day. They headed back to the tower after lunch, stopping at Aurora’s favourite bakery along the way to pick up donuts for everyone and an apricot Danish for Rori.

Most of the Avengers were sprawled out in the living room when they got back, excited to see the boxes of donuts in Harry’s hands. While Anne and Robin joined them on the sofas, Harry turned to Tony. “She downstairs?” he asked, expecting Aurora to be in either of her studios as she usually spent her mother’s anniversary.

“No,” Tony replied. “Last I saw she was in her room.”

Harry scooped up the Danish and headed down the hall towards Rori’s wing of the penthouse, finding her pacing across the smaller living room there.

“Brought you back a Danish from Maggie’s,” he said as he approached her, he quickly dropped it on the nearby coffee table and pulled her into his chest as soon as he spotted the tears dripping down her face. She was shaking in his arms as he held her but didn’t make a sound as her tears stained his shirt. “It’s ok love,” he soothed. “It’s ok.”

“Every year I think it’ll get easier,” she whispered, “but it never does. It always hurts so much.”

“I know baby,” Harry murmured, his hands rubbing circles in her back. “You’re always going to miss her. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“I really thought I’d be ok,” she said. “Last year was so much easier with you and your family, but this year I feel like I can’t breathe.”

“This hasn’t exactly been an easy year, love,” he replied. “I don’t think it’s all that surprising that you’re struggling more with missing her after everything that’s happened.”

“I just don’t know what to do, H,” she confessed. “Usually I’d paint, or I’d play or just do something to get out what I’m feeling but I haven’t been down to the studios in months.”

“I could go down there with you if that would help,” Harry offered.

“I… I don’t think I’m ready,” Rori replied. “I know it won’t be as easy as it was, and I’m scared to find out I can’t do anything the way I used to.”

“Ok,” Harry said. “Today’s probably not the best day to tackle those fears so what do you say we go for a run. Just the two of us. We can run until we’re dead on our feet and then curl up in bed and watch The Santa Claus.”

“That actually sounds perfect, Harry.”

“Alright, come on let’s go get changed.”

After quickly slipping on some work out clothes, they both pulled on their hoodies and headed for the elevator.

Tony turned in his seat to watch them pass by the living room. “Just going for a run in Central Park,” Aurora explained.

“Ok, have fun kids,” Tony replied. “Make sure you’re back before it gets dark.”

Once the elevator reached the lobby, they left the building and crossed the street. They both stretched out their legs before heading off north towards Dalehead Arch at a gentle jog. After a few minutes of jogging, Aurora broke out into a harsh sprint and Harry sped up to follow. They ran for the better part of an hour, until they were both sweating heavily, their breathe ghosting in the air as they bent over, hands on knees as they gasped for air.

“Feeling better?” Harry asked once he regained the ability to speak.

“Much,” Rori gasped. “We should probably head back; the sun will be setting soon.”

Harry reached out for her hand, lacing their fingers together as they turned for home, slowly walking along the paths as the sun sank lower in the sky. As they walked, they started to cool down, the winter air biting at their skin. Aurora tucked her left hand inside the large front pocket of her hoodie, her fingers turning cold where they poked out from the brace. She shivered a little, drawing Harry closer to her side and letting him wrap his arm around her. When he let go of her hand she tucked it into her pocket as well.

“We’re almost back,” he said. “Want to jog the last bit?”

“Yeah,” Rori agreed. “I’m exhausted but it’s too cold to stay out any longer.”

Harry nodded and they both increased their pace to a light jog, soon reaching the edge of the park and crossing the street. They both sighed in relief as soon as they stepped into the welcoming warmth of the lobby, smiling at the receptionist before heading towards the bank of elevators. Rori blew warm air onto the tips of her fingers, while Harry rubbed his hands together and they both laughed at each other’s bright red faces. When the elevator opened on the penthouse, they stepped out to find everyone exactly where they’d left them two hours ago.

“Good run?” Steve asked.

“Yeah,” Rori smiled. “Exactly what I needed. Bit cold out though.”

“A bit cold?” Harry chuckled. “It’s bloody freezing out there.”

“Yeah ok,” Rori said. “It’s more than just a bit cold.”

“Go shower and get into something comfy,” Steve told the pair. “We’ll come get you when dinners ready.”

They did as they were told, heading down the hallway towards Aurora’s room and the large bathroom leading off from it.

“How about I run us a nice hot bath instead?” Harry asked.

“Sounds wonderful,” Rori agreed, heading over to her chest of drawers to pull out her thick Christmas pajamas and then grabbed Harry’s from his case before joining him in the bathroom. The room was already warming up as it filled with steam and she quickly stripped out of her hoodie and active wear, as did Harry and they both sank into the hot water of the bath. Aurora situated herself between Harry’s legs, leaning back against his chest as his arms wrapped around her waist. She left the brace strapped around her hand and opted to rest it on the lip of the tub instead of taking it off. While she’d shown Harry the scars on her stomach and shoulder, she had yet to show him, or anyone, the mess that was her hand and she still wasn’t ready for him to see it. He hadn’t pushed her, but he had noticed the way she never let him in the bathroom when she went to shower or any other time she needed to take the brace off, and he hoped she would realise soon that he would never be horrified or disgusted by what was under the brace, just as he hadn’t when she’d finally shown him the rest of her scars two weeks ago. As if in answer to her silent fears, he placed soft kisses to both her shoulders, paying special attention to the golf ball sized knot of scar tissue on the back of her left shoulder from the exit wound. She lent her head back against his chest, relaxing into his arms in the warm water.

“Feeling better?” he murmured.

“Much,’ she replied. “I love you, Harry.”

“Love you too.”

xXx

Christmas Day in Avengers tower was loud, and the penthouse was crowded. Having grown up with only her mother and her unofficial family from the bar, Aurora was surprised to find that she absolutely loved the crazy, bustling madness of the ragtag group assembled around her. Thor, Clint and Natasha was piling their plates high while Bucky and Sam bickered over crackers. Tony and Steve, with Peter’s help, continued piling more and more plates of food on the already full table, while Rhodey, Pepper, May and Happy were laughing cheerily as they took photos in the paper crowns from their own crackers, and Bruce was chatting with Anne and Robin. Harry sat by Aurora’s side, one of his hands on her thigh as the he dug into his food with the other, a bright smile lighting up his face and making his dimples pop. They all migrated to the sofas once they were all full to bursting and spent the rest of the day lounging around enjoying each other’s company.

xXx

Anne and Robin left a few days after Christmas and Aurora and Harry spent the week before New Year’s watching movies, going ice skating in the park or doing anything at all that let them spend time together.

Before long New Year’s Eve was upon them and everyone got dressed up for the massive party Tony was hosting, and by 11:30 the penthouse was crowded with people, the music loudly filling the space as people danced and drank away the final hours of 2015.

Aurora slipped down the hallway towards her room, towing Harry along behind her until they were away from the flashing lights and the swarming mass of people. She pushed him against the wall, attaching her lips to his as she pressed her body against him in the dark. They kissed for a while before Harry spun them around, pining Rori against the wall as he lips moved down along her jaw.

“Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?” Harry asked, leaning in the suck on the skin below her ear.

“You did,” Rori sighed, tilting her head, inviting him to continue. “But please, feel free to keep saying it.”

Harry chuckled into her neck. “I know this year was bad but 2016 is going to be good for us.”

“I think you’re right,” she agreed, lacing her fingers through his long curls and tugging his face up to kiss him again. “I’m feeling more like myself every day.”

“I love you,” he whispered, lips brushing lips.

“Love you too,” Aurora replied. They pulled apart a few minutes later when they heard someone shout out that it was nearly midnight. Rori adjusted her dress and smoothed out Harry’s shirt before they made their way back down the hall and into the living room where everyone was gathered around. The patio doors were open, and people were gathering out on the balcony in preparation for the fireworks display and the large flatscreen on the wall displayed the ball, ready to drop.

Harry wrapped his arms around Aurora as he stood behind her, his chest pressed tightly against her back while his chin rested on her shoulder looking out across Central Park as they waited for the fireworks to start.

**“10… 9… 8… 7… 6…”**

As everyone began to shout out the countdown, Harry spun Aurora in his arms so that she was facing him, kissing her deeply as the countdown reached one, and everyone screamed out wishes of happy new year. Harry blocked it all out, focused entirely on the beautiful woman in his arms. They were both so swept up in their kiss that neither realised that the fireworks display had started until they pulled apart. “Happy New Year my love,” Harry murmured in her ear as he quickly spun her back around. He heard her giggle as she moved and he returned to his previous position, holding her tight with his chin on her shoulder. The fireworks burst against the night sky and Aurora’s laughter died on her lips. Due to the way his was pressed against her from hip to shoulder, he instantly felt the change when she froze, her breathe sticking in her throat as her heart began to thunder in her chest. Before he could ask, she was spinning around to bury her face in his chest, her chest heaving as she gasped for air and trembled in his arms. It took him a brief moment to realise what was happening but as soon as his thoughts caught up with him, he bent down, scooping Rori into his arms and rushing from the room. As the elevator doors closed behind him, the sound of the fireworks was muffled but he didn’t stop until he reached the soundproof booth of the recording studio, dropping down onto the sofa in the corner of the room, Aurora still cradled in his arms as he attempted to calm her.

A few minutes later, when she was still shaking and gasping for breath, Harry realised that he was out of his depth. “JARVIS?” he asked. “I need you to get Sam down here now.”

Sam appeared at the door a couple of minutes later.

“What happened?” he asked, falling to his knees beside the couple.

“The fireworks triggered her PTSD I think, so I got her down here as quick as I could, but I can’t get her to calm down,” Harry said in a rush, his own face wet with tears.

“Right,” Sam nodded. “You did good Harry.” He reached out to touch Aurora’s shoulder, but she flinched away, burrowing closer against Harry. “Rori, it’s Sam. You’re safe. There isn’t anyone here who’s going to hurt you. You’re safe Aurora.” His voice was low and level, calmer than Harry knows he was when he was trying to soothe her before Sam arrived. “Harry’s here,” Sam continued. “Can you hear his heartbeat? Can you feel his breathe? I need you to try and breath with him kiddo.” Sam looked up at Harry as he spoke. “Need you to steady your breathing too, Harry, otherwise this isn’t going to help much.”

Harry nodded, focusing on his own breathing, taking deep, deliberately calm breathes to encourage Rori to mimic him. Slowly she began to settle against his chest, the shaking lessening more and more as the minutes ticked by until she was almost completely still in his arms.

“You with us again?” Sam asked calmly, once again placing his hand on her shoulder.

“I am,” she whispered softly. “Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Sam replied, his voice still calm and slow. “We talked about how this might happen, remember? I’m guessing you didn’t mention it to Harry like I suggested given how freaked out he was when I got here.”

“No, I didn’t,” Rori admitted. “I’m so sorry Harry. I just thought I’d been doing so well and the pyrotechnics at the X Factor didn’t set me off at all, so I figured I’d be fine tonight.”

“S’ok love,” Harry murmured, his hand rubbing along her spine. “Just wish I’d known how to help you.”

“You did,” she promised. “You got be somewhere quiet and got Sam. Couldn’t have done any better.” She sat up a little to kiss his cheek.

“I’ll leave you kids to it,” Sam chuckled. “Have JARVIS let me know when you’re ready tomorrow and we’ll have a chat, yeah?”

“Got the surgeon in the afternoon,” Rori replied.

“We can talk before you go to the hospital then.” Sam stood up from where he’d been kneeling on the floor and headed for the door. “JARVIS can you let them know when the fireworks have stopped?” he asked before he left the room.

“I really am sorry, H,” Aurora said after Sam left.

“Please don’t apologise,” Harry replied. “Not your fault.”

Instead of replying she kissed him deeply, putting all her love and appreciation in the way her lips moved against his.

“Don’t know what I’d do without you,” she said when they pulled apart.

“Good thing you’ll never have to find out,” he replied, a soft smile on his face as he lent in to kiss her again. “Happy New Year Rori.”

“Happy New Year Harry.”


End file.
